[Washington Post] Ellen Knickmeyer - Saad Eddine el-Othmani, the head of the Justice and Development Party, an Islamic party expected to triumph in Morocco's parliamentary elections Friday, mentions the economy and economic development seven times in the course of a 20-minute conversation. He mentions Islam only once. After an introduction, Othmani reaches out to shake this woman reporter's hand - a quick reflex that marks him as a moderate Muslim man. A party official pointed to campaign ads featuring the party's dozens of female candidates, many of them without the head scarf increasingly being worn by women in some parts of the Muslim world. Othmani acknowledges that his political inspiration comes from Turkey, where an Islamic-based party last month gained control of Turkey's presidency, in addition to the parliament and the prime minister's post.
2007-09-07 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive