Jewish Candidate Runs For Muslim Party: 'My Family Were Against It'

A Jewish contender is making history in Tunisia by running for an Islamist party in the country's first municipal elections since the ousting of the former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Simon Slama said that if he were to win for the Ennahdha Party on May 6, he would swear on the Koran as well as the Jewish holy book, the Torah.

The 54-year-old sewing machine salesman told Agence France Presse that his decision to stand for office in Monastir was opposed by his family.

"All my family were against my choice. My brother was angry and my wife went days without speaking to me. But I managed to convince them," Slama said.

The Ennahdha Party was founded in 1981 inspired by the Iranian election and the Muslim Brotherhood. In the wake of the Tunisian revolution in 2011, it won 37 percent of the vote in the country's assembly election and formed a government.

The Jewish community in the country numbers only about 1,200, down from several hundred thousands before it became independent in 1956. In January, a synagogue in Djerba was fire-bombed during unrest in the country over rising costs and government austerity.

Slama said he hoped his candidacy will help "remove fears for Jewish Tunisian citizens" in the predominantly Muslim country and chose the party because it was the most active and most serious on the political scene.

"Ennahdha has changed its strategy. It is no longer a religious party, it is a civil party," he says.

Since then it has modernized its image and fought and won a campaign not to criminalize normalizing ties with Israel. It also has women in the party who do not wear the Islamic veil.

However some of the party's opponents say Slama's candidacy is a ploy to boost its vote and that the country had a long way to go on minority rights.

Rene Trabelsi, who organizes the Jewish pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, on the island of Djerba told the AFP: "This candidacy brings pride for the Jewish community. "It has created a positive image of an open Tunisia that we can all share," he added.