As the country awaits news of the formation of the next government, the Muslim Council of Britain today congratulated all voters in taking part in this election. Today we all made history: it will no longer be business as usual for British politics.

This election has proven to be a milestone for Britain’s Muslims, who have confounded critics to take part in our democratic culture in even greater numbers.

Throughout the duration of the election campaign, MCB's affiliates organised a number of hustings and meetings to scrutinise their candidates. MCB’s successful Muslim Vote campaign has persuaded many first-time voters to take part.

It would seem that these elections have ushered in the age of the discerning British Muslim voter. No party and no candidate can take the Muslim vote for granted. Our issues have been both diverse and common, whilst we have conceivably voted on our own set of priorities for the common good of the nation.

The Muslim Council of Britain congratulates the many British Muslims who have been elected or re-elected: including for the first time in British history, three Muslim women. This election is, moreover, groundbreaking as we welcome two Muslim MPs from the Conservative Party for the first time.[1] We hope they serve all of their constituents well and are role models for Muslim communities everywhere.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said: “At this stage, it is time we applaud all those who have won seats, and commiserate with those who were not as successful. Yet with such large turnouts reported, this is a success for all of us and our democratic culture.

"I also congratulate Mr David Cameron for gaining the highest number of seats. It would seem that all of our leaders now have the heavy responsibility of forming a stable and strong government and leading our nation."

"It is time to also to reflect on the message from the electorate. With no decisive result, we hope our leaders will use this opportunity to change and revitalise our politics. We pray that our leaders make wise choices in the formation of a new government for the national interest.”

[ENDS]

Notes to Editors:

1. Muslim MP results so far:

Rushanara Ali (Labour, Bethnal Green and Bow, Rehman Chishti (Conservative, Gillingham and Rainham), Sadiq Khan (Labour, Tooting), Shabana Mahmood (Labour, Birmingham Ladywood), Khalid Mahmood (Labour, Birmingham Perry Bar) Sajid Javid (Conservative, Bromsgrove), Anas Sarwar (Labour, Glasgow Central), Yasmin Qureshi (Labour, Bolton South East) Read more here

2. The Muslim Council of Britain led a non-partisan voter participation campaign through it's Muslim Vote 2010 initiative ¬