Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

TUNISIA: Constituent Assembly Election

TUNISIA: Constituent Assembly Election Islamists claim victory, but do not have an outright majority. More than 90% of registered voters turned out to cast their ballot in Tunisia’s election on October 23rd, the first free poll of the Arab Spring. Tunisians were electing a 217‐seat assembly that will draft a constitution and appoint an interim government. The Islamist party Ennahda was expected to win the most votes, but it was not clear if it would gain a majority. Campaigning in Tunisia was marked by concerns over splits between Islamists and secularists, party funding and voter apathy. Electoral commission secretary‐general Boubaker Bethabet said more than 90% of the 4.1m registered citizens had voted. No figures were available for another 3.1m unregistered people who also had the right to vote. Polling stations began to close at 18:00 GMT but people still queuing at that time were allowed to stay and cast their vote, AFP said. For most people it was the first time in their lives that they had voted in a free election. Tunisians know their emerging democracy carries a huge burden of expectation. Success here will resonate across the Arab world. Unlike its eastern neighbour Libya , Tunisia’s transition from authoritarian rule has been largely peaceful. Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, has sought to allay the fears of Tunisian secularists by stating its commitment to democracy and women’s rights. Its closest challenger was expected to be the secular, centrist Progressive Democratic Party ( PDP ). Ennahda’s leader, Rachid Ghannouchi , was heckled by a handful of secularist protesters as he left the polling station in Tunis where he voted. The hecklers called him a terrorist and an assassin and shouted at him to return to London, where he spent 22 years in exile before returning to Tunisia in April. But Mr Ghannouchi praised the electoral process, saying: “This is an historic day. Tunis was born again today; the Arab spring is born again today ‐ not in a negative way of toppling dictators but in a positive way of building democratic systems, a representative system which represents the people.” More than 100 parties registered to participate, along with a number of indsependent lists. Hundreds of foreign election observers and thousands of local ones monitored the poll. The EU observer mission said that the overall campaign had been transparent. (BBC News Online 23/10) On October 24th, Ennahda said it would have at least 60 seats in the 217‐member assembly, as ballot counting continued. “We will have between 60 and 65 seats on the constituent assembly,” an executive party member, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP , citing the party’s own ballot count. The party also claimed to have captured 40% of the total vote. Adel Chaouch , a member of the executive of the leftist Ettajdid party, added: “It is clear that Ennahda leads everybody in the vast majority of voting districts. (©AFP 24/10 2011) Candidates line up p. 18979B http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series Wiley

TUNISIA: Constituent Assembly Election

Download PDF
1 page

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/tunisia-constituent-assembly-election-Qk8Ns5VM1D

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2011
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825X.2011.04131.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Islamists claim victory, but do not have an outright majority. More than 90% of registered voters turned out to cast their ballot in Tunisia’s election on October 23rd, the first free poll of the Arab Spring. Tunisians were electing a 217‐seat assembly that will draft a constitution and appoint an interim government. The Islamist party Ennahda was expected to win the most votes, but it was not clear if it would gain a majority. Campaigning in Tunisia was marked by concerns over splits between Islamists and secularists, party funding and voter apathy. Electoral commission secretary‐general Boubaker Bethabet said more than 90% of the 4.1m registered citizens had voted. No figures were available for another 3.1m unregistered people who also had the right to vote. Polling stations began to close at 18:00 GMT but people still queuing at that time were allowed to stay and cast their vote, AFP said. For most people it was the first time in their lives that they had voted in a free election. Tunisians know their emerging democracy carries a huge burden of expectation. Success here will resonate across the Arab world. Unlike its eastern neighbour Libya , Tunisia’s transition from authoritarian rule has been largely peaceful. Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, has sought to allay the fears of Tunisian secularists by stating its commitment to democracy and women’s rights. Its closest challenger was expected to be the secular, centrist Progressive Democratic Party ( PDP ). Ennahda’s leader, Rachid Ghannouchi , was heckled by a handful of secularist protesters as he left the polling station in Tunis where he voted. The hecklers called him a terrorist and an assassin and shouted at him to return to London, where he spent 22 years in exile before returning to Tunisia in April. But Mr Ghannouchi praised the electoral process, saying: “This is an historic day. Tunis was born again today; the Arab spring is born again today ‐ not in a negative way of toppling dictators but in a positive way of building democratic systems, a representative system which represents the people.” More than 100 parties registered to participate, along with a number of indsependent lists. Hundreds of foreign election observers and thousands of local ones monitored the poll. The EU observer mission said that the overall campaign had been transparent. (BBC News Online 23/10) On October 24th, Ennahda said it would have at least 60 seats in the 217‐member assembly, as ballot counting continued. “We will have between 60 and 65 seats on the constituent assembly,” an executive party member, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP , citing the party’s own ballot count. The party also claimed to have captured 40% of the total vote. Adel Chaouch , a member of the executive of the leftist Ettajdid party, added: “It is clear that Ennahda leads everybody in the vast majority of voting districts. (©AFP 24/10 2011) Candidates line up p. 18979B

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series – Wiley

Published: Nov 1, 2011

There are no references for this article.