The Majority of Ukrainian Muslims Vote for the Leader of the Orange Revolution
Such was the choice of the majority of Ukrainian Muslims in the presidential elections which had their first round on Sunday January 17th 2010, which preliminarily indicated after counting almost half the votes that the opposition political leader allied to Moscow Victor Yanukovych, leader of the Party of Regions was winning, followed by the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The second round will be on the 7th of February 2010.
The two most prominent Islamic institutions; “Al Raed” the Federation of Social Organizations and “Ummah” the Religious Department for Muslims of the Ukraine, issued a joint statement urging the Muslims of the Ukraine to actively and positively participate in the presidential elections and to vote for whomever they believed to be more capable of developing and benefitting society, without naming candidates.
The statement considered that the future of the country depended on the votes of all its citizens.
Igor Krishin the head of “Ummah” said that the department and “Al Raed” both encouraged the Muslims of the Ukraine to actively participate without preferring one candidate over another.
In an interview with Islam Online he pointed out that this was due to the fact that the interests and needs of Muslims differed according to the region in which they lived; the Crimean Tartars in the south have particular interests, the Muslims in Donetsk in the east other concerns as do the Muslims in each region of the country, consequently they asked Muslims to vote for the candidate they believed would best serve the Ukrainian society on its different ethnic and religious levels.
According to media reports, the candidates in the elections, a total of 18, all tried to win the Muslim votes by adding elements to their campaign programs which aimed at improving the status of minorities in the Ukraine.
However the majority of Muslims in the Ukraine preferred to vote for the candidate of what is known to the media as the Orange Revolution, led by Yulia Tymoshenko, according to a opinion poll run by Islam Online.net targeting the opinions of the Muslim minorities both immigrants and citizens in various regions of the Ukraine.