The candidate of Ennahda becomes the first woman mayor of Tunis

Souad Abderrahim, top of the list of the Islamist party Ennahda during the first democratic municipal elections in Tunisia, was elected Tuesday mayor of Tunis, a first for a woman. "I offer this victory to all the women of my country, to all the youth and to Tunisia", launched, visibly moved, the new 53-year-old man, manager of a pharmaceutical company.

Souad Abderrahim, member of Ennahda's political bureau but who defines himself as independent, was elected by the new councilors, with 26 votes against 22 for his main opponent, Kamel Idir. The latter, former local leader under the regime of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, was the head of the Nidaa Tounes party, founded by the current president Béji Caïd Essebsi.

Souad Abderrahim was elected in a second round boycotted by some elected representatives from the left and center, refusing to vote for one or the other of the two hegemonic parties, Ennahda and Nidaa

Used to modernize Ennahda?

Party of Islamist inspiration and currently allied Nidaa Tounès at the national level, Ennahda had led in many localities during the municipal May 6, the first since the 2011 revolution. In Sfax, the second largest city and major economic center, a close to Ennahda also elected mayor at the end of June

In the capital, Ennahda came in first but without an absolute majority, with 21 seats out of 60, in a vote marked by a strong abstention fueled by economic difficulties persistent and distrust of elites. Across the country, the independent lists have won the most seats, with 2367 elected in the 350 municipalities, or 32.9%.

Souad Abderrahim is a long-time traveling companion to Ennahda party, but the movement was accused during the campaign of using it to modernize its image. An activist during her university years, she was a member of the Ennahda bloc at the Constituent Assembly from 2011 to 2014, where she was controversial for criticism of single mothers in particular, before disappearing from the political landscape, to municipal.

A "civil party with Islamic referent"

The new mayor of Tunis rejects the label of "Islamist", like the party itself, which was transformed in mid-2016 into party " civil to Islamic referent ", acting a separation between political and religious. He now defines himself as a "democratic Muslim."

"We have chosen transparency as a slogan," said Souad Abderrahim, insisting he wants to work with all the other parties.

Of his four main deputies elected on Tuesday, two are from the Ennahda list, one from Nidaa and one is independent. "The first issue will be to make beautiful Tunis," said Souad Abderrahim. The Tunisian capital is particularly confronted with a problem of waste management, which has worsened after 2011.

The first "sheikh of the medina"

These elections mark the beginning of decentralization, a crucial project in a country where the municipalities were until then not very autonomous, dependent on a central administration often clientelist. Since the revolution that ousted Ben Ali in 2011, they were managed by special delegations, often with a lack of management.

Souad Abderrahim, who will have to leave his company under the law, becomes the first "sheikh of the medina" , the traditional male title given to the mayor of the capital because he holds a special function during certain religious holidays.

One in five mayors is a woman

Like her, many women come to access local power in the favor of a very strict law on parity. According to the Independent Electoral Body, 47% of elected representatives are women, of whom 573 are headed by lists (29.5% of the total). Municipal councils are still forming, but the proportion of women mayors in Tunisia could be relatively high, observers said.

According to the NGO Al Bawsala, of the 270 municipal councils invested Tuesday evening, 53 were chaired by women. That is about 20%, compared to 16% of women mayors in France, according to the Association of Mayors of France.