Source: The Muslim News

http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=10089

On October 20, 2005 The Muslim News reported, "British Muslims were among the highest voter turnout out at the last general election in May, according to a new survey. In the first research of its kind since 1997, the Electoral Commission reported that while minority ethnic voters were less likely to have voted than white groups at the election, there was considerable variation in participation among different communities. Estimates carried out by Mori research found that the average turnout among the minority ethnic population as a whole was just 47 per cent compared to 62 per cent among white voters. But behind the figures, Muslim participation was the highest, with 76 per cent of Bangladeshis and 70 per cent of Pakistanis voting. People with Indian origins, which includes Muslims, Hindus and Christians, were the third highest with 67 per cent. Among the lowest were Black Africans (54 percent) and Caribbeans (61 percent), while those classed as mixed-race were less likely (40 per cent) to have claimed to have voted. Britain's 1.8 Muslim community was widely reported to have played a decisive influence in Labour having its parliamentary majority slashed by around 100 seats due to a backlash against the Iraq war."