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WORLD MAYOR 2018
Profiles |
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FRONT PAGE About World Mayor City Mayors Foundation    WORLD MAYOR 2018 • Results 2018 • Project 2018 • Shortlist 2018 • Longlist 2018 • Raison d'être • World Mayor history • World Mayor Prize • Code of Ethics • Criteria • Meet the Press INTERVIEWS WITH • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Zamboanga ESSAYS BY • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Cologne • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Fort Worth • Mayor of Lille • Mayor of Paris • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Saarbrücken • Mayor of Trbovlje • Mayor of Tunis • Mayor of Zamboanga TESTIMONIALS • Mayor of Alphen / Rijn • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Baden-Baden • Mayor of Calais • Mayor of Chemnitz • Mayor of Cologne • Mayor of Cozumel • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Fort Worth • Mayor of Grand Rapids • Mayor of Lille • Mayor of Lodz • Mayor of Molenbeek • Mayor of Narayanganj • Mayor of Oakland • Mayor of Omaha • Mayor of Paris • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Reutlingen • Mayor of Saarbrücken • Mayor of San Juan • Mayor of Trbovlje • Mayor of Tunis • Mayor of Zamboanga • Mayor of Zurich PROFILES OF • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Cologne • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Fort Worth • Mayor of Lille • Mayor of Paris • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Saarbrücken • Mayor of Trbovlje • Mayor of Tunis • Mayor of Zamboanga WORLD MAYOR 2016 WORLD MAYOR 2014 WORLD MAYOR 2012 WORLD MAYOR 2010 WORLD MAYOR 2008 WORLD MAYOR 2006 WORLD MAYOR 2005 WORLD MAYOR 2004 |
 Souad AbderrahimMayor of Tunis, Tunesia World Mayor 2018: Mayor of Distinction 12 February 2019: Souad Abderrahim has been the mayor of Tunis (population 640,000) since July 2018. On 3 July, she was elected by 26 votes of the Municipality Council members, with 22 voting against. She became the first woman elected mayor of Tunis and the first Arab woman to hold such a position.. She has made the physical and spiritual restoration of the city, following the terror attacks, her priority and has also spoken of how she hopes to inspire and assist more women to enter politics. Mayor Abderrahim is a pharmacist by profession, running her own business at one point. She has a degree in pharmacy from the University of Monastir. During her time there she was an political activist and was briefly imprisoned. Restoring and modernising the infrastructure of Tunis is her top early priority. She has also begun a tree-planting project and introduced enhanced street cleaning services. Public safety is another concern for citizens and the mayor has increased policing. Early results show reductions in assaults and burglaries. The Mayor’s initiatives to improve the city’s public spaces, infrastructure and buildings, to enhance safety and to support local small businesses are, in part, designed to encourage tourists to return. The New York Times included Tunis in its list of place to visit in 2019. Souad Abderrahim contested the municipal elections as an independent, although she was backed by the Ennahda party, which she has represented in the Tunisian National Parliament where she chaired the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms. In her World Mayor essay the Mayor writes “under the new constitution we have, for the first time, a city council in which almost 50% of the members are women. Five of the sixty members are in their twenties and fifteen are in their thirties. The women are strongly represented in the leadership position in the council structures.” “Women must dare to be in a leadership position. …. I am convinced that they are very capable today of positioning themselves as leaders and of overcoming the challenges.” Mayor Abderrahim represents a break with the past in other ways. She is middle class rather than a member of one of the powerful families of Tunisia who have previously dominated leadership and her roots are in the south of the country rather than the traditional north. She has accepted her inevitable high profile with good grace and has told interviewers from around the world that she wants to assist and encourage women to follow her example and to actively seek candidatures and responsible positions in politics, governance and business. Extract from Abderrahim’s essay: In her World Mayor essay, Souad Abderrahim Mayor of Tunis, Tunisia, writes that in May 2018 the first free and democratic municipal elections were held in Tunis. The elections enabled Souad Abderrahim to become the first female mayor, thus breaking the traditional hold by men and especially those from powerful families. The Mayor writes that her city’s first democratic election will be remembered as a significant event in the Arab world. “Women have shown that they are more willing to listen and enter into dialogue. They embody the hope of a better political world, free from the shortcomings attributed to the traditional political world.” MORE Typical tribute: I want to express my strong conviction to support Mayor Souad Abderrahim for the reward of the best world woman mayor. The reasons that lead me to support this mayor are: • She is issued from an Islamic political party (Ennahdha), nevertheless, she reflects the image of the modern and emancipated Tunisian women; • She participated in the elaboration of the constitution of the second republic (on behalf of its political party) • She succeeded to be the first women in the history of Tunisia that occupy the position of mayor; • She has a rehabilitation plan to erase the run-down buildings in the heart of the capital Tunis, so that the local authority can reshape a new architecture for the capital; • She is strongly defending clean mobility systems such as bio gas buses, bike (the municipality of Tunis is thinking about the implementation of cycling areas) MORE |