Excerpt:
An Italian Muslim woman wearing the veil, or hijab, in the central city of Perugia will for the first time run for local elections, on 6 and 7 June. Maymouna Abdel Qader, an Italian of Palestinian descent, is a political science graduate of the University of Perugia.
She is running for Perugia's communal council for the Sinistra e Liberta coalition, which is made up of mainly socialist, anti-war and secular parties.
"Though being the first veiled Muslim woman that has ever run for elections in Italy, until now I have received a positive response from the people, who have also appreciated my choice, and look at me as a novelty of the local political scene," said Abdel Qader in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).