London: As many as 13 Muslim MPs, up from 8 in 2010, have been elected in one of the most unpredictable and extraordinary general elections in Britain, and eight of them are women, according to media reports.
“It is great news that there are more Muslim MPs elected than ever before. However, the House of Commons still does not reflect the diversity of the population,” said Editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed J Versi.
Versi welcomed the appointment of eight Muslim women in the elections, seeing it as a welcome sign that more Muslim women have been elected this year -six Labour, one Conservative and one Scottish National Party (SNP).
They included the first Muslim SNP MP, Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh, elected in the landslide by the nationalist party in Scotland as well as the first female Muslim Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani.
In Scotland, four Muslim candidates won seats for the first time for the opposition party and added to five who were re-elected.
After final count of votes, Labour has nine Muslim MPs, the Tories three and the SNP one.
The Liberal Democrats party has only one Muslim MP, despite fielding 24 Muslim candidates.
On Thursday elections, David Cameron has won an unexpected majority in the UK’s parliamentary elections, overturning poll predictions and sweeping the Conservatives to power again, as three of his election rivals quit following their disastrous turnout at the polls.
The Conservative Party managed to secure 326 seats after 643 constituencies were counted, to the Labor party’s 230 seats, Scottish Nationalist Party’s stunning gain of 56 seats. The Liberal Democrat party could win only eight seats.
It is noteworthy that Cameron, will be the first Conservative prime minister to win a second term since Margaret Thatcher.