Tunisians Hold First Vote Since Revolution
Millions of Tunisians cast votes on Sunday for an assembly to draft a new constitution, in a burst of pride and hope that after inspiring the regional revolt that is still shaking the Arab world, their small country could now lead the way to democracy.
“Tunisians showed the world how to make a peaceful revolution without icons, without ideology, and now we are going to show the world how we can build a real democracy,” Marcel Marzouki, founder of a liberal political party and former dissident exile, said as he waited in a long line outside a polling place in the coastal town of Sousse. “This will have a real impact in places like Libya and Egypt and Syria, after the fall of its regime. The whole Arab world is watching.”
After 10 months of anxiety and street protests since the sudden uprising that forced their former president, the autocrat Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, to flee the country, Tunisians standing in orderly lines to vote expressed confidence that, for the first time in their history, an honest count of their ballots would determine the country’s future.
Many were sure their votes would change Tunisia for the better, regardless of who won, and some predicted an almost magical transformation. “There is going to be social justice, freedom, democracy, and they are going to tackle the unemployment issue,” said Mohamed Fezai, an unemployed 30-year-old college graduate.
“Today is the day of independence,” said Amin Ganhouba, 30, a technician. “Today we got our freedom, and our dignity, from the simple act of voting.”
At least one woman celebrated a vote she cast at random. Fatima Toumi, 52, an illiterate housewife, said, beaming with pride, that she had done her civic duty but did not know which party’s box she had checked. “Whatever I pick doesn’t matter,” she said. “I hope it will improve the situation of Tunisia’s youth.”Tunisia’s moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, was widely expected to win at least a plurality of the vote, and its founder, Rachid Ghannouchi, declared last week that it would win a majority. Many voters said that in the final days of the campaign the essential choice came down to a vote for Ennahda or against it.
Ennahda had a long history of opposition to the dictatorship before Mr. Ben Ali’s persecution eviscerated it in the 1990s, and its leaders have said that they hope to establish a durable, pluralistic democracy that will protect the rights of individuals and minorities from whoever is in power. They cite the model of Turkey, a secular democracy now governed by a party with an Islamic identity. Ennahda has also pledged to form a unity government with Tunisia’s liberal parties that would rule by consensus until democratic institutions are well established.
Ennahda supporters, however, were divided over how much regulation of personal morality the party should seek to impose. They said they hoped that Muslims might be free to adopt Islamic dress and pray without persecution, but that women would be able to reject the Islamic veil and that Tunisians could choose to buy alcohol…