From Democracy Digest

Presidential candidates Selma Elloumi Rekik and Abir Moussi want to fight against creeping fundamentalism that has threatened Tunisian women’s freedoms and improve economic prospects for unemployed youth. Their chances of winning are slim and they’re up against two dozen men for the job. But the race is wide open ahead of the first-round vote Sept. 15, AP reports:

In most Arab countries, women still struggle to secure equal political, legal, economic and marital rights as men. Issues like equal inheritance, the right to have an abortion or the right of a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim remain taboos for strictly religious reasons.

Moussi, 44, is known as the “steel lady” for her tenacity and firm opposition to Tunisia’s Islamists, who have become an important political force since the 2011 Arab Spring revolution lifted restrictions on their activities. She wants to push moderate Islamist party Ennahdha out of the political scene and change the constitution to ban parties based on religion, calling political Islam “antithetical to democracy.”

See full story here.