Tunisia Elections: Islamist Party Taking Power? Concerns for Christian and Women Rights
Preliminary results into Tunisia’s landmark elections show that a once-banned Islamist party appears to have won the elections.
The party, known as Ennahda, is an opposition party that was banned for 10 years during the 23-year rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Following the collapse of the Ali government in the wake of the 2011 Tunisian revolution, the interim government granted the group permission to form a political party.
CNN reported that according to Mohamed Kamez Jendoubi, the head of Tunisia’s election commission, more than 80 percent of voters turned out for the election.
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The preliminary results of the election show that Ennahda managed to capture a large proportion of the votes, along with two other political parties known as CPR and Ettakatol, both of which represent secular views.
CPR leader, Moncef Marzouki, said the top three running parities represent that Tunisians want an “Arab-Muslim identity (Ennahda) and also democracy and human rights represented by the two parties CPR and Ettakatol.”
Dr Raouf Ghattas, who spent four years in Tunisia with International Mission Board, has said that although Ennahda is regarded as moderate, its links to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are a cause for concern. According to Christian Today Ghattas said, “As we watch the results of the elections in Tunisia, our hearts are burdened for the believers there as the Islamists are making great gains."
He added, “The Ennahda Party, even though the media calls it a moderate Islamic party, is well attached to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
“There could be difficult days ahead.”
Many women in Tunisia have also expressed concern over the group gaining political power.
Tunisia has traditionally been the one of the more liberal counties in the Arab world and with an Islamist party potentially having substantial political power, fear is gaining traction that women’s rights may suffer as a consequence.
Libya’s constitution will be rewritten by the new political leaders and concerns exist that the new constitution may not guarantee the rights of women the same way the old constitution did.
Ennahda’s leader, Rachid Gannouchi, who returned to Tunis from exile in the United Kingdom, has been promising that the country would maintain its strong secular tradition.
However, not everyone is convinced and many fear that Gannouchi’s comments are merely pre-election promises that would not come to fruition if the party gained significant political power.
However, Gannouchi’s daughter has come out in support of her father and his party suggesting that women’s rights would not suffer under a government led by her father’s political party.
She told CNN, “I’m a Tunisian woman. I’d be the first concerned if there was change. I’m a working woman, I’m active in civil society.”
She added, “I personally don’t see any contradiction between Islam and women’s rights.”
Tunisia was the first country in the Arab Spring movement to have ousted their leader and many believe that the elections in Tunisia are pivotal as they will likely set an example for the entire Arab world, particularly those countries that are also going through democratic transitions as well.
