With the London mayoral and local election fast approaching, Muslims are campaigning and mobilising votes for incumbent Ken Livingstone, citing a record for tolerance and support. “Livingstone is maintaining excellent community relations,” Sheikh Suliman Gani, the Imam of Tooting Islamic Centre, was reported as saying. “He has done a wonderful job and it is essential that everybody, especially Muslims vote on May 1,” when the voters will elect the mayor of London and members of its 25-strong city assembly.
Mayor Livingstone’s two main rivals are Boris Johnson of the Conservative party and Brian Paddick of the Liberal-Democrat party. The far-right, whites-only British National party (BNP) is also fielding Richard Barnbrook as its mayoral candidate. Recent opinion polls show both Livingstone and Johnson neck to neck. City councillor Shiria Khatun says Livingstone’s record is one big factor for his popularity among Muslims. “He supported a multicultural policy which, with policing, has led to a reduction in racist attacks in London by more than 50 percent,” she said, adding, “The city personifies diversity with over 300 languages being spoken here.”