Despite missing Islamist party, people target democracy in Tunisia’s first Presidential vote

Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Voting is underway in Tunisia’s first Presidential vote in history following the 2011 Arab Spring revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and inspired revolutions across the Arab World and beyond. While its neighbors have proved the difficulty of establishing a system of elections, Tunisia, as the heart of the Arab Spring, continues to surprise the world with its commitment to democracy. According to the latest Freedom House report, last year “Tunisia’s civil liberties rating improved… due to gains in academic freedom, the establishment of new labor unions, and the lifting of travel restrictions”.

The New York Times had this brief background of the recent politics of vote in the article, “After Rocky Transition, Tunisia Is Set for First Democratic Presidential Vote“:

Beji Caid Essebsi came out of retirement to head Nidaa Tounes, a collection of leftists, businessmen and former government officials united by their opposition to the Islamists. They led an effective campaign in the legislative elections urging voters to cast a tactical vote to prevent Ennahda from gaining a majority in Parliament. The strategy won Nidaa Tounes 86 seats to Ennahda’s 69 in the assembly, according to final results announced Friday, not enough for a majority but giving it the lead in a coalition.

The result has created a shift in Tunisia’s volatile transitional politics before the presidential elections. Ennahda has not fielded a candidate for the presidency, nor is it backing any candidate publicly, preferring to concentrate its efforts in the legislature. In the absence of the Islamists, some Tunisians are questioning whether Mr. Essebsi will gain too much power, if he leads both the legislative and executive branches.

A more broad description of Tunisian history from the CIA website:

Rivalry between French and Italian interests in Tunisia culminated in a French invasion in 1881 and the creation of a protectorate. Agitation for independence in the decades following World War I was finally successful in getting the French to recognize Tunisia as an independent state in 1956. The country’s first president, Habib Bourguiba, established a strict one-party state. He dominated the country for 31 years, repressing Islamic fundamentalism and establishing rights for women unmatched by any other Arab nation. In November 1987, Bourguiba was removed from office and replaced by Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in a bloodless coup.

Street protests that began in Tunis in December 2010 over high unemployment, corruption, widespread poverty, and high food prices escalated in January 2011, culminating in rioting that led to hundreds of deaths. On 14 January 2011, the same day Ben Ali dismissed the government, he fled the country, and by late January 2011, a “national unity government” was formed. Elections for the new Constituent Assembly were held in late October 2011, and in December, it elected human rights activist Moncef Marzouki as interim president. The Assembly began drafting a new constitution in February 2012 and, after several iterations and a months-long political crisis that stalled the transition, ratified the document in January 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fbX3GLTpwU