Souad Abderrahim, first woman elected mayor of Tunis

A first for the Tunisian capital. Souad Abderrahim was elected mayor of Tunis by the new councilors, after a second round on Tuesday. The head of the Islamist-conservative party Ennahdha won 26 votes against 22 for its main opponent, Kamel Idir, a member of the Nidaa Tounes party, an ally of Ennahdha in the government. Ennahdha came first in the May 6 municipal elections, the first since the Tunisian revolution of 2011, but without a majority in Tunis. Souad Abderrahim, 53, becomes the first woman to win the title of "Cheikh El Medina", a traditional masculine title given to the mayor of Tunis.

"I offer this victory to all the women of my country, to all youth and Tunisia, "has launched the new city, hitherto manager of a pharmaceutical company in Tunis. A controversial political woman, Souad Abderrahim claims liberal ideas although she has always belonged to the Islamist movement.

A longtime activist

During her studies in pharmacology at the University of Monastir, she became a member of the Tunisian General Union of Students (UGTE), an Islamist student union, dissolved in 1991 under Ben Ali . This commitment even earned him two weeks in prison in 1985. Souad Abderrahim is arrested for wanting to calm a brawl between young militants left and Islamists. Then sent back from the university, she will not resume her studies until later.

After graduating in 1992, she decided to leave the militancy to devote herself to her professional life and renounce wearing the veil. With a "Western-style" look today, the corporate executive, married with two children, must now give up her career under the law.

A controversial return in 2011

It was only after the 2011 Revolution that the pharmacist decided to return to politics. She then militates for the Ennahdha party, of which she quickly becomes a figurehead. In October, she was elected for a term as a member of the first Constituent Assembly of Tunis (equivalent of Parliament), which she held until 2014. She chairs a commission on human rights and freedoms.

But then a candidate, she stands out by arousing the indignation of the defenders of human rights. During a visit to Monte Carlo Doualiya radio, she said that individual freedoms must be "framed by customs, traditions and respect for morality". It also attacks single mothers, "an infamy, a plague for Tunisian society", which "should not aspire to a legal framework that protects their rights," according to the future MP.

These statements earned him the nickname of Souad Palin, in reference to US conservative Republican Sarah Palin. At the inauguration of the Constituent Assembly in November 2011, Souad Abderrahim was beaten by protesters from the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), who had come to claim more civil liberties. The member has since apologized.

"An Independent"

If she joins the political office of Ennahdha in 2017, the new mayor of Tunis is defined as independent and rejects the label of "Islamist". His electoral program focuses on the environment and the maintenance of the city's infrastructure. The Tunisian capital is particularly confronted with a problem of waste management.

She claims liberal and reformist ideas, like her party. Ideologically close to the Muslim Brotherhood since its creation in the 1980s, Ennahdha was transformed in mid-2016 into a "civil party with Islamic referent", abandoning a political Islam for a "democratic" Islam. Opponents of Souad Abderrahim see it as a showcase for the Islamist party that seeks to dedicate itself. But his election remains a strong symbol in Tunisia.

Like Souad Abderrahim, many women have recently gained access to local power through a very strict parity law. According to the Independent Electoral Commission (Isie), 47% of elected officials are women, 573 of whom are heads of lists (29.5% of the total). The Arab-language newspaper Al-Maghreb reported on Tuesday morning 52 women elected mayors out of a total of 269 municipalities where the election has already taken place.