Nigerian, Zulfat Suara Becomes First Muslim To Be Elected To Nashville Metro Council

Zulfat Suara made history Thursday night, becoming the first Muslim elected to Nashville’s Metro Council. Suara was elected to fill one of the five At-Large council seats.

Suara joins Bob Mendes, Sharon Hurt, Burkley Allen, and Steve Glover as the newly elected At-Large members. She claimed victory Thursday night during her election party at the Bridge Building.

In the August 1 election, Suara received the second-most votes of the At-Large candidates, trailing only Bob Mendes. Mendes secured over 10 percent of the vote and did not have to take part in Thursday’s runoff election.

Suara is a Certified Public Accountant and works as the Assistant Controller at Meharry Medical College. She emigrated from Nigeria in 1993 and moved to Nashville in 1998 after her husband was accepted to a fellowship program at Vanderbilt.

According to the Election Commission’s website, Suara received 34,237 votes, exactly 13 percent of the vote. The results will be certified next week, according to Jeff Roberts with the Election Commission.

She is the treasurer of the National Women Political Caucus,recipient of FBI Directors’ Community Leadership award. State President of business women.