By KUNA,
Paris : The French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) announced late Sunday that elections it had organized had chosen Mohammed Mussaoui as its next President to replace outgoing President Dalil Boubaker, who boycotted the vote.
Mussaoui is part of the Muslim Grouping of France (RMF), which is considered close to Morocco.
Boubaker, who had two terms as President of the CFCM, was largely supported by the French authorities over the past years, but he withdrew from this years election because he objected to the voting system.
He opposed the system whereby the number of electors were chosen from the different Mosques around France, based on the number of square metres in each Mosque.
Boubaker, who is the Rector of the Paris Mosque, was isolated in the voting system because of the size of that institution.
The CFCM was created in 2003 by the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who is now President of France.
Mussaoui, who is 44, promised to improve the functioning of the CFCM, which he said in a statement had not been “optimal.” When the CFCM was founded, it had several key and specific missions, including the training of Imams in France, the improvement of conditions and authorization for the construction of Mosques and the securing of space for Muslims in Frances crowded cemeteries.
These missions have only been partially addressed because of infighting in the Council and the battle for influence with Frances almost six million Muslims.