French Presidential Hopeful Juppé's Ties to Islamism Come Under the Spotlight

As France gets ready for the second-round of the conservative primary election between Francois Fillon and Alain Juppé, writer and blogger Mohamed Louizi, former member of the Islamic organization Muslim Brotherhood, told Sputnik why the voters should be aware of Juppé's ties with this radical group.

On November 27, France is set to vote in the second-round of the conservative primary election, to decide who will go forward to the 2017 presidential elections, between two of the country's former prime ministers: Francois Fillon (2007 to 2012 under then president Nicolas Sarkozy) and Alain Juppé (1995-1997 under then president Jacques Chirac).

The mayor of the French city of Bordeaux, Alain Juppé, who was largely seen as the odds-on favorite to take the conservative ticket, surprisingly came home in second place in last Sunday’s first round.

Meanwhile, Islamic organizations and mosques in France are urging Muslims to vote for Alain Juppé in the primary to decide the conservative candidate in next year’s presidential election, according to media reports.

President of the Collective of Muslims in France (CMF) Nabil Ennasri, has reportedly called for Muslims to vote for Juppé. Other Islamic organizations, and mosques, have been doing the same according to the US-based news network Breitbart, citing Romain Caillet, researcher and consultant on Islamic issues for French newspaper Libération.

Ahead of the upcoming vote Sputnik France spoke to writer and blogger, former member of the Islamic organization Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Louizi, who explained why the voters should be aware of Juppé's ties with this radical group.

"Bordeaux is one of the French cities which was the first to welcome Islamism back in the 1980s," Louizi, author of the book "Why I quit the Muslim Brotherhood" ("Pourquoi j’ai quitté les Frères musulmans") told Sputnik.

"The city gave a boost to Islamism "a-la Muslim Brotherhood" which inch by inch began to colonize the mosques of the Muslim community, nurturing and spreading the Muslim cult for further achievement of its political purposes," he said.

Alain Juppé, he explained, noting that it could be any other politician in his place, is facilitating the aims of the Muslim Brotherhood, helping them to prosper and opening wide opportunities for them. In response, the organization is assisting him in municipal, parliamentary and national elections, directly and indirectly instructing the Muslim community to render assistance to him because of his support for Islamists.

Hervé Gaymard, who serves as campaign manager for Alain Juppé, met with Mohammed Badie, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood on January 31, 2012 in Egypt, the writer said, wondering in what capacity one of the key assistants to Alain Juppé met with the head of the radical group.

He also noted that it is a well-known fact that several months prior to this meeting, Alain Juppé also went to Egypt to meet with members of the "youth coalition of the revolution" of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"There are already indirect indications that the Muslim Brotherhood have achieved in a number of countries what they are pursuing nowadays in France: establishing close ties with someone who will take up the highest post in order to spread their ideology as far as possible for people to perceive it as normal and support it," Mohamed Louizi said.

"However the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood is Islamism," he noted.

"When one sees a French presidential candidate trying to cozy up with the Muslim Brotherhood allowing them to accompany him, awarding them with orders and meeting with them, he should ask why and demand proper answers," he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is a revolutionary fundamentalist movement to restore the caliphate and strict sharia (Islamist) law in Muslim lands and, ultimately, the world. The group is considered a terrorist organization in a number of states, including Russia.