FOUR pro-Palestine independent candidates have won seats at Westminster in the General Election.
Although the news has mostly been about Labour winning a landslide majority and the SNP performing poorly, four independent candidates who openly support Palestine have won in their constituency.
Jeremy Corbyn, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed, and Shockat Adam have all won seats at Westminster with a few of them causing a shock upset.
Adam might be the biggest surprise as he beat Labour's Jonathan Ashworth in Leicester South by just shy of 1000 votes as he said “this is for Gaza” in his winning speech.
The 51-year-old had previously canvassed for Labour but turned his back on the party as he felt they no longer listened to the local community.
The war in Gaza was a big political point in Adam’s campaign as he told the Middle East Eye: “The Palestinian cause is very close to the community’s heart yet when they needed a loud and clear and distinct voice it was lacking.
“How can we stand by when we are seeing massacre upon massacre?”
Former Labour leader Corbyn managed to retain his seat as an independent in Islington, where he has been an MP for more than 40 years.
Corbyn won 24,120 votes with Labour’s candidate Praful Nargund securing a total of 16,873.
The now-independent MP had called for an end to the occupation of Palestine by Israel last year as he said it was “the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace”.
Elsewhere, Mohammed gained Dewsbury and Batley from the Labour candidate Heather Iqbal after winning an impressive 15,641 votes, in comparison to Labour’s 8707.
He previously said: “My initial focus will include fighting for a ceasefire and two-state peace agreement in Gaza, tackling the cost-of-living crisis, fighting to save the NHS and Dewsbury Hospital, funding for all essential services, town regeneration, safer streets, and environmental and consumer safety and protection.”
Hussain beat Labour’s Kate Hollern in Blackburn by the slimmest of margins as just 132 votes separated the pair.
The new MP had run his campaign with Gaza as the main focal point.
