PARIS, April 4: The Conseil National des Francais Musulmans (National Council of French Muslim), which claims to represent 85 per cent of the 2.7 million French citizens of Muslim extraction, says it is throwing its support to President Jacques Chirac in the upcoming presidential elections and recommending that French Muslim vote for Mr Chirac, who, says its president Hamlaoui Mekachera, “is the candidate who has done the most for the French Muslim community.”

According to Mr Mekachera, this is the second time that the National Council calls for its members to vote for Mr Chirac, who has, in his words, “taken seriously our concerns, indeed upon being elected President in 1995, immediately named an inter-ministerial council on integration,” which was presided by Mr Mekachera, a council which went on to “undertake a major battle against discrimination, create a special free telephone number where complaints could be lodged, also promote the idea of more ethnic integration in French public housing.”

Unfortunately, adds Mr Mekachera, “when Prime Minister Jospin arrived in power in 1997, the council was suppressed and was never replaced. Which leads us to say that the Socialists (Mr Jospin’s party) don’t seem to have the political will to promote the integration of French Muslim.