The newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is married to Rama Duwaji, a woman of Syrian descent. For many in Syria, that practically makes him family.

That he’s also a Muslim and a supporter of the Palestinian cause doesn’t hurt either, and his election victory has inspired warm feelings and an outpouring of humour in the Arab world.

“I love how Syrians are now calling Zohran Mamdani our brother-in-law,” wrote Karam Nachar, editor-in-chief of Al Jumhuriya, an independent Syrian media outlet.

“The poor man thought he was marrying one Syrian woman! No, habibi Zohran, you belong to the entire nation now.”

Mamdani’s wife Duwaji, a 30-year-old illustrator and designer, was born in Texas to Syrian parents and grew up partly in Dubai. This has prompted many Syrians keen to share in the joy of his win to adopt him as one of their own.

Abdel Karim Bakkar, a Syrian scholar with more than three million Facebook followers, said he was “thrilled that the new mayor of New York City is our brother-in-law, but even more thrilled that he speaks for the marginalised, the working class, and the poor”.

Uganda-born Mamdani will become New York City’s first Muslim and socialist mayor when he takes office in January, and in his victory speech he responded to US President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration platform by celebrating the Big Apple’s diversity.

Knafeh and bodega cats

In a viral campaign video showing the 34-year-old addressing New Yorkers in fluent Levantine Arabic, he grins and pours himself a glass of mint tea: “Now, I know what you’re thinking, I might look like your brother-in-law from Damascus.”

He savours a slice of Palestinian knafeh — the syrupy dessert made of soft cheese and shredded pastry — and pitches his candidacy to New York’s immigrant communities.

“Even if I can’t convince your uncle that the Knafeh Nabulsi from Steinway is better than the one in New Jersey, I promise to do everything I can to help you open your small business, pay your rent, and build your future here,” he said.

Another clip showed Mamdani at a bodega — the small convenience stores in the city that are often owned by Arabs — talking to a cat named Egypt and promising the shop owner a rent freeze in near-perfect Egyptian.

‘A bit of hope’

Rami Kukhun, another Nablus resident and humanitarian worker, said the election had given him “a bit of hope”.

“All the attention on Palestine… on what’s happening in Gaza, might eventually lead to political outcomes that, directly or indirectly, benefit Palestinians,” he said.

In Iran, Mamdani’s victory received wide coverage in local media, which highlighted his Shiite background — the dominant branch of Islam in the country.

Elsewhere in the region, some saw in Mamdani’s mayoral feat an opportunity to reflect on politics in their own countries.

Mamdani was born in Kampala and later lived in Cape Town, South Africa before migrating with his Indian parents, filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani, to the United States, where he became a citizen in 2018.

• Shooting takes place at BNP rally in Chattogram.
• BNP leader calls its attempt to disrupt election.
• Interim leader Yunus orders investigation into shooting.

Gunmen on motorbikes attacked a Bangladesh political rally, killing one person and wounding two others, including a candidate, officials said on Thursday, after parties began campaigning for landmark elections.

Major parties opened their campaigns on Wednesday for the elections slated for February 2026, the first since a deadly uprising last year toppled the autocratic government of former ruler Sheikh Hasina.

Campaigning turned violent almost immediately.

The shooting took place at a rally on Wednesday for the powerful Bangladesh National Party (BNP) attended by hundreds in the port city of Chattogram, police said.

Senior BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said: “It was an attempt to destabilise politics and disrupt the election”.

The BNP are widely seen as the frontrunner in the polls.

Police said the gunmen opened fire quickly on a crowd of hundreds at the rally, but insisted that the BNP candidate was not the target.

“The miscreants… shot their target, and fled in a flash,” senior police officer Hasib Aziz told reporters late on Wednesday.

Candidate Ershad Ullah was shot and wounded, along with a supporter. A third man was killed.

“We would urge candidates to inform the police station at least 24 hours prior to any election campaign, so that more police can be deployed,” Aziz said.

‘Show restraint’

The South Asian nation of about 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Hasina was overthrown by the student-led uprising in August 2024.

Campaigning is technically unofficial because the election commission is not expected to announce the voting day until December.

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner serving as chief adviser, has repeatedly promised the elections will be held in February.

Yunus has ordered an investigation into the shooting, his media team said in a statement.

The interim government “calls on all political actors and their supporters to uphold calm, show restraint, and ensure that the February general election takes place in an atmosphere of peace, dignity, and fairness”, it said on Thursday.

Bangladesh police offered cash rewards on Wednesday for the surrender of more than 1,300 machine guns, rifles and pistols looted during last year’s uprising.

Lieutenant General Md Mainur Rahman told an army news conference on Wednesday that the military would provide security to ensure peaceful polls and that they would return to barracks after the election.

“We hope stability will be strengthened, law and order will remain normal, and we will return to the cantonment once the election is held,” Rahman said.

Major parties have unveiled their candidate lists, with the BNP saying this week that 80-year-old leader and three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia will run again, as well as her son, Tarique Rahman.

Bangladesh’s largest religious political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, said it had finalised a preliminary candidate list and was “engaging with other parties on the prospect of seat-sharing”, senior leader Abdullah Mohammad Taher told AFP.

New York City’s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is wasting no time setting the tone for his administration as the 34-year-old announced an all-women team to transition him into the new office, just a day after his election.

The move, he says, reflects his promise to build a City Hall that truly delivers for New Yorkers.

As per a report published in Times Magazine, the team brings together a diverse mix of women who have shaped city government over the past two decades, with experience in the administrations of Eric Adams, Bill de Blasio, and Michael Bloomberg. It includes former city and federal officials, non-profit leaders, and veterans of City Hall.

Speaking beneath the Unisphere in Queens, Mamdani told reporters, “I and my team will build a City Hall capable of delivering on the promises of this campaign,” pledging to “work every day to honour the trust that I now hold.”

Among those leading his transition is Elana Leopold, a progressive strategist and longtime de Blasio aide, who will serve as executive director. She’ll be joined by co-chairs Maria Torres-Springer, Lina Khan, Grace Bonilla, and Melanie Hartzog — women known for their expertise in public policy, city budgeting, and social impact.

While Mamdani stopped short of naming new top appointments, he reaffirmed his plan to retain Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, originally appointed by Mayor Adams. Tisch has not yet confirmed whether she’ll continue in the role.

The transition team’s job is to ensure a smooth handover before Mamdani’s inauguration in January. Once in office, he’ll oversee nearly 300,000 city employees and a $100 billion budget — a huge task for a first-time mayor.

At his first post-election press conference, Mamdani said his transition marks the beginning of a “commitment to solving old problems with new solutions”. 

Quoting the late Governor Mario M Cuomo, father of his opponent Andrew Cuomo, he added: “The poetry of campaigning may have come to a close last night at nine, but the beautiful prose of governing has only just begun.”

Mamdani’s win over former governor Andrew capped one of the city’s most closely watched elections in years. More than two million New Yorkers voted — the highest turnout in over half a century — giving Mamdani, a lead of around nine percentage points.