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Tunisia Elects First Female Mayor of Arab Capital

Souad Abderrahim from tunisia has become the first elected female mayor of an arab capital

The people of Tunisia have made history by electing the first female mayor of an Arab capital. Meet Souad Abderrahim.

By winning 33.8 percent of the votes during the municipal elections in Tunisia this May, Souad Abderrahim became the first lady to be elected mayor of an Arab capital.

Running as an independent nominee under the wing of the “Muslims Democrat Party”, also known as Ennahda, she was able to beat Kamel Idir, a candidate of the Nidaa Tounes party which was founded by the Tunisian president.

“I dedicate this victory to all Tunisian women. My first task will be to improve the face of Tunis,” the 53-year-old told AFP.

Also the head of a pharmaceutical company, Abderrahim says that she regards her position as “a source of pride for the Tunisian woman” and that becoming “the first female sheikh of Tunis can only be recorded as Tunisia making history on this front.”

Souad Abderrahim is the first elected female mayor of an Arab capital, but not the first Arab female mayor, nor the first female arab mayor of a capital.

While many women have held the position of mayor in various Arab countries, – mainly Lebanon, Syria and Iraq – the Iraqi capital Baghdad currently has a female mayor, Zekra Alwach, by appointment.

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