Bekir Altaş, Secretary General of the Islamic Community Millî Görüş (IGMG), released a statement regarding the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on Sunday, May 15, 2022. “One of the reasons that make NRW elections particularly important is keeping right-wing extremists out of parliament. Therefore, all democratic votes are valuable and belong in the ballot box.„ explained Bekir Altaş, and continued his words as follows:

“The upcoming NRW elections are about more than the question of which parties will form the future state government. It is also about deciding who will no longer be sitting in parliament. For members of cultural and religious minorities, this point is of crucial importance. Because the AfD, the extremist party that divides and incites hatred has been sitting there for far too long. This party stirs up Islamophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-gypsyism and many other forms of anti-humanistic ideologies.

Schleswig-Holstein state elections which was recently held showed that it is possible to keep them out of parliament. This can also be achieved in NRW, but only if all citizens entitled to vote go to the ballot box and cast their vote for one of the democratic parties. That is why the Islamic Community urgently calls on people to take part in the election. In elections, it is not only the votes in the ballot box that count, but also those that are not cast. They change the majority and end up benefiting the extremists.

Democracy and peace cannot be taken for granted. They must be actively and continuously defended. The right to vote is therefore also a responsibility. Those who do not go to the ballot box on sunday will not only do not do justice to this responsibility, but also will miss an opportunity that comes around only once every five years.”