Europe's first hijab-wearing mayor elected in Bosnia-Herzegovina
A new woman mayor in Bosnia who is the first in her country and Europe to wear the hijab headscarf, said her election was "a model for Europe and Islam".
"This is a great victory of democracy. My fellow citizens showed a great open spirit because they elected me first as a woman but also as a woman who wears a veil," respecting Islam, said Amra Babic, elected on Sunday in the town of Visoko. "This is a model for Europe but even beyond," she said on Tuesday at the local branch of her party.
Babic, 43, who regularly wears the hijab, won 30 per cent of the votes in the mayoral race in Visoko, a town of some 40,000 people near the capital of Sarajevo.
Two days after the vote, Babic, wearing a scarf covering her hair, ears and neck, was busy receiving by telephone congratulations for her victory.
"Islam is very clear regarding the woman. It reserves for her a place in the public life and all those who interpret it correctly know that this is the way it is," said Babic, who belongs to Bosnia's main Muslin party, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA).
However, she is confident that the place for her country is "among modern European states".
"I believe that my headscarf should not be a hindrance … Europe will understand [my wearing it,]" she said.
