For some candidates, voters deserve some answers

With the Primary Election now over, it’s time to think ahead to the November General Election.

The November election will feature just two local races: three seats on the City Council and two seats on the School Board.

We will deal with the School Board at another time.

The council race has been frustrating so far. Some of the Bengali candidates refused to participate in a “Meet the Candidates” forum and refused to answer a questionnaire sent out by this newspaper to all the candidates.

The boycott was held in protest of The Review. According to a letter allegedly written by candidate Abu Mahfuz, the candidates claim The Review is biased, racist and anti-Islamic.

Those are libelous claims and ones that we vehemently deny.

Out of five Bengali candidates, only two survived the Primary Election and will be on the November ballot.

In all, there will be six candidates vying for three seats on council. The only incumbent running is Cathie Gordon.

Also making the cut is former Councilmember Abdul Algazali, a Yemeni-American. Algazali also failed to show up at the candidate forum or answer our questionnaire.

To his credit, candidate Anam Miah participated in the candidate forum. He, too, will be on the November ballot.
We need an open dialogue with candidates. More importantly, the voters – that’s all voters — deserve to know where each candidate stands on the issues facing Hamtramck.

The next few years are going to be some of the most challenging times ever for the city. Hamtramck’s survival is at stake.

We will be sending out a new round of questions for the candidates. Hopefully, our readers will have an opportunity to find out more about the candidates who want to represent the people.

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