Tunisians will go to the polls before the end of this year to elect a new president and parliament, say officials of the National Constituent Assembly (NCA). On 1 May, the NCA passed an elections law, dissipating fears that the process of selecting the country's new legislators and president could drag on beyond the deadline mentioned in the constitution. Chafik Sarsar, chief of the Independent Elections Committee (IEC), told reporters that parliamentary and presidential elections would likely be held in the second half of November. It remains to be seen whether the presidential and legislative elections will be held simultaneously, which will save the country considerable expense but is likely to confuse the voters, or consecutively. Officials say that the cost of holding elections separately would be US$160 million, a large sum considering the poor state of the country's economy. Ennahda, the country's leading Islamist party, is in favour of holding simultaneous elections, while the Popular Front, a key leftist alliance, wants separate elections for both the presidency and the legislature. The new elections law was passed with 132 votes in favour and 11 against. Critics of the law objected to the fact that it excluded army and police auxiliaries from the vote, a measure which may be in conflict with chapter 21 of the constitution, granting all citizens the same rights and duties. But most politicians and observers voiced their satisfaction with the law. A thorny issue that surfaced during the discussion of the law is whether to allow members of Tunisia's once ruling party, the now disbanded Constitutional Democratic Rally (CDR), to run for office. A vote on a clause that would have barred key CDR members from elections was defeated because 108 NCA members approved it, while it needed 109 votes to go through. Only 27 members voted against it, but 46 deputies abstained. The clause that would have barred many CDR former members from political office read “barred from future legislative elections is anyone who held office during the time of the deposed president from the date of the legislative and presidential elections of 1994 until 14 January 2011. Also barred are those who assumed any of the following posts in the CDR: members of the Political Bureau, members of the Central Committee, members of the coordination committees, heads of CDR branches, secretary general or public secretary of one of the CDR student organisations, CDR members of parliament and members of the Council of Advisers.” Opinions were mixed on the failure to bar former CDR members from running for office. Remarkably, Ennahda was in favour of allowing former CDR members to run for office, on the basis that discrimination was “undemocratic.” Those who wanted to bar CDR officials from political life pointed out that the latter played a major role in forging earlier elections, and that their continued presence on the political scene might undermine the goals of the revolution. During its years in power, the CDR won most elections by over 90 per cent of the vote, amid allegations of widespread election rigging. But barring the CDR from elected offices was not going to keep members of the old regime out of power. Many members of the CDR continue to serve in senior posts in the government, police, the judiciary and the media. Recently, many former regime sympathisers made a comeback in public life in the country, appearing regularly on talk shows and commenting on current affairs. A court has also closed the case against two officials of the old regime, former interior minister Rafik Haj Kassem and former security chief Ali Soriati, who had both been accused of using excessive force against demonstrators during the uprising that ousted former president Zein Al-Abidine Ben Ali just over three years ago. Still, some argue that even if CDR officials are allowed to run for office, this will make no difference, as the party has been weakened beyond recognition. Even in the latter part of Ben Ali's rule, it was clear that the CDR had no public appeal and that it relied on widespread fraud to stay in power. Another point that came up during discussions of the new elections law at the NCA was that of equality for women. A clause in the law would have ensured that women constituted one half of all candidates. But this clause did not make it through, proving once again that countryside conservatism was still a force to contend with in post-revolutionary Tunisia. The women equality clause stated that “candidacies should observe equal partnerships of men and women, who must rotate at the head of party and coalition lists. Lists that don't abide by [equality] rules will be thrown out.” When this clause was put to vote in the NCA, only 69 members voted in favour, with 67 against, and 55 abstaining. The clause would have needed 50 more votes to become part of the final elections law. As it is, the new law seems to be more sympathetic to the rights of the country's former elite than it is to its women.
