the arab world`s first democracy

OBSERVATOIRE DES MUTATIONS POLITIQUES
DANS LE MONDE ARABE
TUNISIA:
THE ARAB WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACY
PAR BARAH MIKAÏL
Senior Fellow on Middle East and North Africa, FRIDE
3 novembre 2011
TUNISIA: THE ARAB WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACY / BARAH MIKAÏL – 3 NOVEMBRE 2011
TUNISIA: THE ARAB WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACY
By Barah Mikail / Senior Fellow on Middle East and North Africa, FRIDE (www.fride.org)
Tunisia is on the road to becoming the Arab world’s first democracy. The Islamist party alNahda won a historic victory in the country’s first free elections since the ousting of
President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. Nine months after the beginning of the Arab spring and
under the attentive eyes of the entire region, Tunisians turned out in mass to vote for a new
217-member assembly which will rewrite the constitution and appoint a new caretaker
president and government until parliamentary elections are held next year.
The results were no surprise. The country wanted a radical change. The massive turnout
leaves no doubt that the results represent the mainstream opinion in Tunisia, as more than
90% of voters went to the polls, despite endless queues. Tunisian citizens were determined
to express their voice, at all costs.
While many in Tunisia fear that the country might be heading towards the establishment of
an Islamic state, al-Nahda’s victory does not mean that Islamists will dominate the country.
Since the beginning al-Nahda made it clear that despite their attachment to some religious
principles, they favoured a pragmatic approach. Moreover, even though they have won over
40% of the votes, the Islamists have indicated that they will build alliances; and these are the
ones that will really make a difference.
At this stage it is still hard to determine what kind of alliances al-Nahda will seek to build.
But one thing is clear: the Islamist party will be unable to act in the soon-to-be-constituted
parliament without taking into consideration the secular parties. The other main winners of
the legislative elections are parties that do not consent to conservative religious points of
view, such as the Congress for Republic, Ettakatol, and the coalition of the Popular List.
But instead of worrying about the “Islamisation” of Tunisia, it is worth analysing why alNahda was favoured by Tunisians both inside and outside the country, and how to assist the
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TUNISIA: THE ARAB WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACY / BARAH MIKAÏL – 3 NOVEMBRE 2011
construction of an open democratic society that respects religion without necessarily being
submitted to it.
Tunisia is a country of two worlds. Despite the appealing resorts that used to attract many
international tourists to Tunisia, the majority of Tunisians used to live in rather precarious
conditions. While the Ben Ali regime focused its attention on the development of the main
touristic coastal zones, no real effort was made to raise the level of the inner cities. While
the main touristic places enjoyed a good level of service provision and infrastructure, the
central and southern parts of the country are under-developed, with bad roads and poor
infrastructure to link cities and towns, All this has led to enormous frustration and a deep
desire for change.
After the fall of Ben Ali, al-Nahda managed to present itself as a party close to the people’s
demands, listening and interacting with the population, while some “secular” parties
sounded more distant from the average Tunisian citizen’s concerns, preferring to theorise
from afar on the country’s future.
Seemingly, amongst al-Nahda priorities are the respect for women’s rights; guaranteeing the
country’s liberty of thought as a precondition to re-launch touristic activities; maintaining
Tunisia’s regional and international traditional diplomatic alliances; and promoting free
trade and a liberal economy.
While the future of Libya is far more certain and in Egypt there are speculations about the
Muslim Brotherhood, along with some radical Salafi groups, possibly achieving strong
positions in the next parliamentary elections, al-Nahda, which has proclaimed to follow the
example of Turkey’s ruling AKP, may end up being one of the less conservative
democratically-elected Islamic movements in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Tunisia remains the most promising and the less complicated example of an ongoing
democratic process in the MENA. Islamists in Tunisia will have to show they can be
pragmatic otherwise risk a counter-revolution.
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IRIS - Observatoire des mutations politiques dans le monde arabe
TUNISIA: THE ARAB WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACY / BARAH MIKAÏL – 3 NOVEMBRE 2011
TUNISIA: THE ARAB WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACY
By Barah Mikaïl / Senior Fellow on Middle East and North Africa, FRIDE
[email protected]
OBSERVATOIRE DES MUTATIONS POLITIQUES DANS LE MONDE ARABE
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[email protected]
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