Excerpt:
Rome, 11 April (AKI) - Among those running for the elections this weekend to choose representatives for Rome's city council is Khalid Chaouki, the founder of a group known as the Young Muslims, an association that brings together second generation Muslim immigrants in Italy.
"The fact that a young Muslim is already a candidate on the same level as many other Italian citizens represents a new and important step," said Chaouki in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
Chaouki is running as a candidate with the list of Francesco Rutelli, the centre-left Democrat Party nominee for mayor of Rome.
"The role of those elected to institutions is to try and explain that being Muslim is not an identity per se, but being a Muslim means being a person who takes to his heart the problems of the country and of the city in which he lives and who is convinced that politics or the participation in politics, is a commitment to the service for the common good," said Chaouki.