Meral Ece wants Turkish community to keep BNP out

| Thursday, 20 March 2008 Source: London Turkish Gazette

Meral Ece, Liberal Democrat Assembly Candidate for North East london, has called on the Turkish community in London to make sure that they are registered to vote come the May 1 GLA elections in order to make sure the BNP do not win any seats.

Ms Ece said: "On May 1 elections, every vote will count. Any party which polls 5% or more of the vote across London, will win a seat on the London Assembly. At the last election four years ago, the BNP polled at 4.75% of the vote across London - just 5000 votes away from winning a seat."

She added: "The BNP is a racist party, they are holocaust deniers and Nazi sympathisers. They would use any position on the London Assembly to spread hatred and promote division across multi-cultural London."

Mayor's race

Londoners will see that Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor, is the right choice according to Ece – providing he gets fair coverage.

She said that the impression she gets when knocking on doors is that people want a change after eight years of Ken Livingstone and his army of press officers. But most people are concerned about the prospect of the Conservative candidate being voted in.

Ms Ece said: "We have to remember that Boris Johnson is a Conservative and that they have been making a lot of negative noise about immigration. It would be damaging for London if he wins and people are very concerned.

"I know he's a funny character and seems fluffy but he's got no experience. Brian Paddick on the other hand has made a difference when he was a police officer and it's him that's pounded the streets looking out for the community."

Ece's comment about the Conservatives stirring up tension regarding immigrant communities is related to the comments made by a Conservative spokesperson on community, claiming that “we might have had rather fewer problems” if there had been less immigration into the UK.