Bangladeshi-origin Weich Islam has become a candidate against Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labor Party in the UK general election. He filed for the Holborn and St Pancras constituency in central London.
Ahead of the upcoming national elections, various polls show that the Labor Party is more likely to win than the ruling Conservative Party. If the Labor Party wins, Keir Starmer will become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Apart from this, he is the MP for Holborn and St. Pancras parliamentary seat since 2015.
As an independent candidate against Starmer, Weich Islam has been the talk of the Bangladeshi community, including the mainstream of UK politics. Weisz told Prothom Alo that Starmer’s lack of a strong position against the Israeli aggression in Gaza and his lack of support for a ceasefire made him a candidate.
Weich Islam said there are many Muslim voters in Holborn and St Pancras constituencies. The British Bangladeshis and British Somalis in this parliamentary constituency demanded that their constituencies’ MPs play a role in parliament for a ceasefire in Gaza. But Starmer lost support because he failed to reflect voters’ aspirations.
Weich is optimistic about his victory. He said, ‘If everyone in our community works together and votes for me in the next election, I have a high chance of winning. There are about 83,000 voters in this constituency, of which about 32,000 are Muslim. So if we can cast our votes for humanity to demand an end to the war on behalf of Gaza, then victory is possible.’
If he wins, Starmer will prioritize issues such as solving the housing problem, speeding up health care, crime control, lowering the cost of living, employment and training.
In addition to Starmer and Weich Islam, there are a total of 12 candidates from Conservative Party, Liberal Democratic Party and Green Party in this seat.
Weich Islam was born and raised in the Tower Hamlets area of East London. Graduated from the famous Queen Mary University of London along with graduation in Economics from London Guildhall University. After completing his education, he started his professional career at NetWest Bank. Later served as Law Enforcement Adviser to Ministry of Home Affairs.
In 2006, Weisz Islam was elected as a councilor for the Respect Party from the Whitechapel Ward in Tower Hamlets Barra. In 2007 he was appointed Chairman of Tower Hamlets Council’s Pensions and Investments Committee. In 2008, he was nominated as an Olympic Ambassador by Tower Hamlets Council.
It should be noted that the general election will be held in the United Kingdom on July 4.