In the Mediterranean resort town of Monastir, Jewish sewing machine repairman Simon Slama is running with the Islamist party Ennahdha.
Slama and his relatives are among the small number of Jews still living in Tunisia. The community in the North African nation has shrunk from several hundred thousand before independence in 1956 to just 1,200 today.
While Jews in the country, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, once served as lawmakers and even ministers, they have long since slipped to the margins of politics.
Slama says his relatives were initially against his decision but he convinced them the party is no longer religious and is now a civil party, describing it as “the most active and the most serious on the political scene.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/tunisia-holds-first-local-elections-since-2011-arab-spring-uprising/
Slama and his relatives are among the small number of Jews still living in Tunisia. The community in the North African nation has shrunk from several hundred thousand before independence in 1956 to just 1,200 today.
While Jews in the country, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, once served as lawmakers and even ministers, they have long since slipped to the margins of politics.
Slama says his relatives were initially against his decision but he convinced them the party is no longer religious and is now a civil party, describing it as “the most active and the most serious on the political scene.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/tunisia-holds-first-local-elections-since-2011-arab-spring-uprising/
