User:Cyclopia/Qassim Afzal

Qassim Afzal (born 1960 in Manchester, Lancashire, England) is a Liberal Democrat politician. He was educated at the University of Salford, the University of Central Lancashire, the University of Manchester, the Manchester Metropolitan University.

He is a currently a candidate for Manchester Gorton at the 2010 General Election.

Background
Afzal has held a number of jobs, including councillor in the Cheetham ward on Manchester City Council. He first entered national politics in the 2001 General Election as a candidate for the Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath constituency. He finished second with 4,841 votes. The Labour party were accused of running a dirty tricks campaign against him by distributing leaflets about the collapse of his family textile business in 1992, after the failure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.

In the 2005 general election, Afzal stood for the Manchester Gorton constituency. He finished second with 9,672 votes, achieving one of the highest swings from Labour to the Liberal Democrats in that General Election.

Afzal furthered the swing towards the Liberal Democrats by 1.1% in Manchester Gorton in the 2010 general election, when he again finished second, with 12,508 votes, though his share of the vote dropped by 0.9%.

On 25 May 2010, in the House of Commons, Sir Gerald Kaufman accused Afzal of running "an anti-Semitic, and personally anti-Semitic, election campaign" in Manchester Gorton.