Tunisia's First Free Election Echoes Islamist-Secularist Divide
Tunisia held its first free election Sunday which will decide the nation’s ideological direction as it transitions to democracy 10 months after it witnessed mass protests leading to the Arab Spring.
Out of the 4.1 million registered voters, more than 90 percent cast their votes as 40,000 security personnel guarded polling booths, according to the country’s independent election commission.
Former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty was part of a delegation observing the election from the International Republican Institute. “The turnout seems to be good. The process has been orderly so far but it is too early to make any final conclusions,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
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The high turnout reflected a renewed hope among Tunisians who saw elections under the 24-year rule of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali as sham. But there were concerns. Ben Ali’s autocratic rule pushed Islamists to the margins, but now Islamists are better organized than their secular counterparts.
While about 80 parties fielded candidates and numerous independents were in the fray, the real competition is between two parties – the moderate Islamist Hizb Ennahda (Renaissance Party) and the secularist Progressive Democratic Party or PDP.
Ennahda, which was reconstituted after the fall of the Ben Ali regime in January, is expected to win the highest number of seats at the constituent assembly, which will form a provisional government, draft a new constitution and chart the Muslim-majority country’s transitional period. It polled about a fifth of the electorate.
Ennahda says it will not seek to Islamize the nation, but Tunisia’s secularists are worried.
When Ennahda’s leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, accompanied by his wife and daughter, both wearing Islamic headscarves, went to cast his vote on Sunday morning, he was booed. “Degage,” French for “Go away,” and “You are a terrorist and an assassin! Go back to London!” a dozen people shouted at him, according to Reuters.
Ghannouchi, who lived in exile in Britain for 22 years, had threatened his opponents saying Tunisians would start another uprising if they sought to rig the election.
Contrary to Ghannouchi’s claim, Ennahda apparently has extremist elements. At an election rally Friday, when Ennahda’s progressive, female candidate Suad Abdel-Rahim was addressing the crowd, many books on sale on the fringes of the rally were by writers who belong to the strict Salafist branch of Islam, Reuters said.
The secularist PDP, which was an opposition party during Ben Ali’s rule and is led by a woman, centered its campaign on fears of the rise of Islamism after Ben Ali’s fall.
While many parties are progressive, like PDP, some political groupings, such as the Congress for the Republic, have indicated that they would be willing to join a coalition with Ennahda.
Parties will engage in coalition making Tuesday, the day election results are expected to be released.
