The majority of the sizable Muslim minority, estimated at six million, is expected to vote in favor of the constitution, which aims to simplify the operating rules in the expanded European Union (EU).
The influential Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), a main player in the umbrella French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM), has issued a statement, urging Muslims to vote “yes.”
Paris Mosque Rector and CFCM leader Dalil Boubakeur said in earlier statements that he would personally vote in favor of the constitution.
The “no” camp is made up of the far-right National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the Communist and Trotskyist parties, nationalist Euroskeptics and a smattering of UMP and PS dissidents, who have been feeding the public on fears that the EU constitution would harm France’s social welfare and lead to job losses in view of a new open-market era.
With their large numbers in France and Holland they can make the difference which way the vote goes. By going to the polls in France and Holland and voting, Muslims will be sending a strong political signal to European Political leaders, that their vote must be reckoned with. For Muslims in Europe also stand to benefit a lot if the Constitution is approved. Among the many rights the Constitution provides EU Citizens, it also cleary states that the EU guarantees the freedom of religious expression, and secularism as Europe's political philosophy. This fact alone should be a strong incentive for the millions of EU Muslims to vote yes and remove the radical power base of Jean-Marie Le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands from EU politics.
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