PARIS, June 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – To French Muslims, Nicolas Sarkozy, head of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), is always a welcome figure in the new government, due to his strong relations with the various Muslim bodies in the European country.

Sarkozy, a charismatic 50-year-old former interior and finance minister, is widely expected to join the government as interior minister, the post where he first built up his nationwide popularity rating.

"Sarkozy's rejoining the new Cabinet as interior minister will breathe a new life into the French Council for Muslim Faith (CFCM)," Mohamed Al-Mestiri, head of the Paris-based World Institute for Islamic Thought, told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, June 1.

"He was the one who first came up with the idea of the council which has been faced with major problems since Sarkozy left the interior ministry," Mestiri added.

Sarkozy was one of the staunch supporters for establishing the CFCM, the French Muslims' umbrella body, and supervised its first election in April 2003.

On Tuesday, May 31, French President Jacques Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin as his new prime minister, in a major government reshuffle in the aftermath of the French massive rejection of the EU constitution.

Chirac also asked Sarkozy, his political rival, to rejoin the new government.

"In a spirit of rallying together, I have asked Nicolas Sarkozy to join the government as a minister of state and he has accepted,” Chirac said in a televised address to the nation Tuesday.

Sarkozy, who was consistently named in surveys as one of the country's most popular politicians, served as interior minister from 2002 to 2004 then as finance minister till 2005.

Sarkozy is widely admired by the French people for his vaulting ambition, outspokenness and irresistible charisma.

Sarkozy's rejoining the new Cabinet line-up comes while preparations are in full swing to hold elections of the CFCM on June 19.

According to observers, Sarkozy's supervision of the CFCM elections would help render the polls a success due to his strong ties with all CFCM members.

Divisions have dominated the Muslim umbrella body over the past year.

The latest sign of such divisions surfaced when two members of the CFCM’s Executive Council resigned in a demonstration of dissatisfaction with the sidelining of the CFCM in the appointment of the Muslim prison chaplain.

Over the Muslim protest on the chaplain selection process, the French Justice Ministry froze plans to appoint a chief Muslim chaplain for prisons.

A similar cheering welcome was echoed by the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF).

"The UOIF is optimistic over Sarkozy's joining the new government as interior minister," UOIF chairman Lhaj Thami Breze told IOL.

He added that the Union also welcomes the appointment of de Villepin as France's new prime minister.

Sarkozy maintains strong relations with the Islamic bodies in France. In early 2003, he made a landmark visit to the UOIF headquarters in the French capital.

He also addressed the UOIF annual conference, known as the Bourgi conference.

Sarkozy also has good ties with the French Council for Imams. In April, 2003, he met with the council secretary general Daw Meskin to convince him to give up a lawsuit on annulling the CFCM elections at that time.