French Muslim Leaders Urge Voter Turnout Amid Ramadan and Rising Abstention Concerns

The presidential elections in France are taking place in the middle of Ramadan, and especially with the threat of a high abstention rate from Muslim voters. This is the reason that prompted Kamel Kabtane, the president of the Rhône Council of Mosques (CMR), to call on Wednesday on the Muslims of France "to assert their citizenship without complex and to go in large numbers to the polling stations" in the two rounds "to fulfill their civic duties and to stand in the way of those who, without restraint, want to ’drive out of France’ French citizens solely on the grounds that they are Muslims".

The rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon deplores the barely veiled threats made even before the election campaign. "For months, we have been witnessing a frenzy and media harassment fueled by certain commentators or certain male or female politicians who have made Muslims and Islam their battle horse, promising them, if they were to be elected, ’the flames of hell’."

During his speech, Kamel Kabtane also recalled the role that Muslims have played in the history of France. "Yes, the Muslims had come to share with their compatriots these dark moments in the history that France has known." He cited the Battle of Verdun and the Chemin des Dames during the Great War or the liberation of France from the yoke of Nazism. "The Muslims shed their blood to save France and, later, they will shed their sweat to rebuild it," he adds. "No! The Muslims of France are not second-class citizens. No! The Muslims are not there by chance but by virtue of this common history that has been built for more than a century."