Residents of at least eight municipalities will, for the first time in Israel’s history, be able to vote for a political party made up solely of new and veteran Ethiopian immigrants during next week’s local elections, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

According to Belaynesh Ayeh, who five years ago became the first Ethiopian woman elected as deputy city mayor, there are all-Ethiopian political parties in Rehovot, Ramle, Netanya, Hadera, Kiryat Gat, Ashkelon and Kiryat Yam, in addition to her own party, Andenet (meaning “join together” in Amharic… no affiliation with the Addis Ababa-based UDJ), in Kiryat Malachi. The parties are not part of a united national political movement but rather consisted of individuals interested in supporting their local communities, she said.

“Ten years ago, no one in our community would have thought about creating a local political party,” Ayeh, who arrived here in the early 1990s, told the Post Wednesday. “I believe that I paved the way for this kind of thinking. They saw what I did and understood what could be achieved.”

While there is little doubt that Ayeh’s role in the Ethiopian political landscape was inspirational, it’s also possible that these aspiring politicians were encouraged by the entrance into the Knesset in recent months of two Ethiopians – Shlomo Mula for Kadima and Rabbi Mazur Beyana for Shas.

For Kiryat Yam resident Reuven Mashasha, who heads the all-Ethiopian Fana (meaning light or torch) Party, entering politics rose out of the need to help his fellow community members.

“There are a lot of socio-economic problems here,” he said Wednesday. “Education is terrible and there’s a lot of poverty. People in my community don’t like to talk about it, but it has to be dealt with by someone.”

With 15 candidates on his list, including one non-Ethiopian, Mashasha is quick to point out that these social issues affect everyone in Kiryat Yam (which is located near Haifa and has close to 20,000 residents) and not just the 300-member Ethiopian community.

“We want our party to show solidarity with Israel and not to highlight our differences,” said Mashasha, who made aliya from Ethiopia as part of Operation Moses in 1984. “We want to thank Israel for taking us in and we want our platform to reach all the residents of Kiryat Yam, not just Ethiopians.

“Of course it’s important for us to be integrated and work together with other local politicians,” said Ayeh, who last time was elected as part of the mixed Tikva Party list. “However, when we see that arrangement isn’t working well, then it’s better for us to be separate so that we can concentrate on our own issues.”

Both Ayeh and Mashasha are confident that they will garner enough support in next Tuesday’s election to either take over their municipalities or at least get a seat, and they believe they will receive votes both from within the Ethiopian community and from without.

“These social issues affect everyone,” concluded Ayeh, who has five Ethiopian candidates on her list, “not just the Ethiopian community.”