A leader of Italy’s Islamic community has launched an appeal to Muslims living in the northern city of Milan, urging them to vote in primaries on Sunday to elect the country’s main centre-left opposition Democratic Party’s leader.
The party is currently led by Pierluigi Bersani, and the primaries are an opportunity to gauge current grassroots support for his stewardship. Snap elections are looming in Italy since prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s key former ally, parliament speaker Gianfranco Fini, formed a new party this month and threatened to withdraw his support from the government.
Milan has 208,021 immigrants making up 16 percent of its population - more than double the national average of 6.5 percent, according to a September report by the Milan city council. Many of the immigrants are Muslims arriving from northern Africa.
Abdullah Paolo Gonzaga, who heads the Islamic Relief charity, has issued a call to Muslims in Italy on the Islam-Online.it website, telling them to take part in the Democratic Party primaries to elect the party leader and top regional officials.
A major reason for Muslims to lend support to the Democratic Party is that it backs the construction of an official mosque in Milan. Italy only has one official mosque, the Grand Mosque in the Italian capital, Rome.
“Milan is the Italian city with the highest Muslim population, and which lacks a real mosque, thanks to the current city council,” Gonzaga said, quoted by Islam-Online.it.
Muslims in Milan have for years sought to have their own mosque. The city’s conservative council has offered Muslims a series of makeshift venues to hold Friday prayers, most recently a velodrome on the outskirts of the city, claiming there is no suitable site to build a place for them to worship.
Muslims should also vote for centre-left candidates in local elections next March, Gonzaga said.
“We need to understand this is a major opportunity for Milan’s Muslim community and all its citizens to have a better city, " he said.
“We have seen years of segregation and and passive acceptance of decisions that are often harmful and which are taken without any prior consultations,” he added.