By Nasreddine Djebbi, IOL Correspondent
BRUSSELS, June 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Sharp differences among its members and complaints of governmental interference have not only impeded the formation of the executive body of Belgian Muslims' umbrella council, but also threatened to ruin the whole process.
Three months after holding the elections of the Islamic Executive Council in Belgium, members have failed to choose a new executive board till Wednesday, June 29, among signs the process of elections itself could be declared void and null.
“The Council members have failed to reach a common ground on selecting members of the new executive body as 40 of the elected 68 members in the March elections vied to join the 17-member executive board,” well-kept sources at the Islamic council told IslamOnline.net.
Ibrahim Bouhna, current head of the Islamic Council, resigned Saturday, June 25, protesting the failure of the council members to agree on the process of picking up members of the executive board, according to the Le Soir and La Libre Belgique dailies.
Belgian Muslims of Turkish origin swept the Islamic Executive Council's elections, the second of its kind, on March 24, securing 40 of the 68 seats up for grabs at the polls, while Muslims of Moroccan origin only got paltry 20 seats.
The first vote was held in 1998. But the government received several complaints lodged by official Muslim bodies, contesting the integrity of the council. The move prompted the March second elections.
Belgian Muslims are estimated at 450,000 – out of a 10-million-population – about half of them are from Moroccan origins, while 120,000 are from Turkish origins.
Manipulation
Over differences within the Muslim umbrella body, Mohamed Boulif, former head of the Islamic Executive Council, said he filed a lawsuit seeking new elections for the Islamic council, citing what he termed "foreign intervention" in the March polls.
“The elections were manipulated by foreign embassies, particularly of Turkey and Morocco,” he told IOL, referring to the support of the two embassies to Belgian Muslims of Turkish and Moroccan origins.
Boulif also criticized what he named the interference of the Belgian government in the polls.
“While the Belgian government doesn’t interfere with the affairs of bodies representing other faiths in the country, it is trying to impose its agenda on the Muslim council.”
Accusations have been reciprocated between members of the newly-elected Islamic council members and those of the former board since the March elections.
On June 20, a complaint was lodged by Bouhna accusing former council member Abdel Kebir Bencheikh of assaulting him. The charge was vehemently dismissed by Bencheikh.
Security Approval
Last May, the Islamic Executive Council has put forward a 40-name list of candidates for the council executive board to the state council for approval.
However, no decision has been taken and is not expected before next September, according to well-kept Islamic sources.
Observers attributed taking no decision by the state council on the Muslim list to the ongoing differences within the Muslim body.
They also expected the Belgian justice ministry to call for a new election for the Islamic body.
According to Belgian laws, whoever wants to propose for a government position should put forward his record to security bodies for approval.
Islam was recognized in Belgium in 1974 but only in 1998 the Muslim minority was represented by a general council.
Several political activists, of Muslim origin, have managed to sit in the Federal Parliament and provincial parliaments as well as municipalities.
The recent government has included the first Muslim minister, Anisa Timsmani, of Moroccan origin, who had to resign under the pressures of Belgian right-wing media.