Elham Asaad Buaras

An estimated 159 Muslim candidates will take part in the local council elections in England, Scotland and Wales on May 4, that is according to data exclusively compiled by The Muslim News.

Elections will be held in 34 councils in England, all 32 councils in Scotland and all 22 councils in Wales on 4 May 2017.

Political party breakdown: The majority of Muslim candidates contesting seats are Labour (70),  34 more than the number standing for the Conservatives (36).

The Liberal-Democrats -the only major political party with no Muslim MP or MEP- fell way behind with only 18 Muslim candidates, while 8 Muslim candidates will represent the Scottish National Party and only 4 Muslim candidates will represent the Welsh Party Plaid Cymru.

Source: The Muslim News

Gender-breakdown: Only 29 Muslim women will contest council seats next month-constituting only 18 % of all the Muslim candidates. Like their male counterparts, the majority of Muslim women candidates stood for Labour (18) more than triple the number who stood for the Conservatives (6) only one Muslim female candidate will represent the Liberal Democrats.

Mayoral Elections: In addition, six areas in England are voting for newly-created combined local authority mayors. Mohammad Aslam is the only Muslim running for mayor, Aslam from Salford, will running to be the mayor of Greater Manchester which includes the 10 borough councils – Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside Trafford, and Wigan.

Aslam is a director of a property letting company with years of business experience. Born in Faislabad, Pakistan where his father was a councillor, Aslam moved to Manchester 17 years ago. He has been helping the community in the Cheetham Hill area by offering support and being a voice for them in the local mosque. He says his key pledge includes making Greater Manchester “more developed and a modern region”. He also wants to get homeless people off the streets and improve the roads. Alsam will be up against political heavyweight Leigh MP, Andy Burnham a one-time Labour leadership contender and now favorite to become the first elected mayor of Greater Manchester.

Full list of Muslim candidates standing in the Local Elections 2017

http://muslimnews.co.uk/newspaper/%newspaper_type%/local-elections-muslim-candidates/