On October 23, 7 million Tunisians will cast their ballots in what could be Tunisia's first free and fair election. They will select 217 members of the Constituent Assembly, a transitional governing body tasked with writing the new constitution. Mohammed Bouazizi's act of desperation on December 17, 2010, changed his country forever. His public expression of the private frustrations of many Tunisians, indeed many Arabs, sparked a public outcry that echoed across the region. Within 28 days, President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had fled the country. Eleven days later Cairo's Tahrir Square witnessed its first protests. The Arab Spring unfolded with demonstrations from Morocco to Iran, two presidents deposed, one fricasseed, and one, most recently, dispached. Road to Democracy Meanwhile, Tunisians have been trying to agree on how to select a transitional government, write a constitution, and lay foundations for a democratic Tunisia. The vehicle of this process has been the High Authority for the Achievement of the Revolutionary Objectives (HAARO), which grew out of the Higher Political Reform Commission, a committee of experts formed on January 17 to examine laws pertaining to elections and parties. The group later expanded to include representatives from political parties. Under the auspices of HAARO, 11 of Tunisia's 12 main parties signed a “Declaration of the Transitional Process” on September 15, which set parameters for the authority of the transitional government, the Constituent Assembly, and reaffirmed the parties' commitments to both the October 23 elections and to a campaign code of conduct. Candidates are required to adhere to strict neutrality with respect to places of worship, educational institutions and government offices. The declaration limits the term of the Constituent Assembly's authority to one year, with legislative elections to be held by October 2012. If the new constitution includes provisions for the office of president, presidential elections would take place then as well. This declaration represents an important step forward: consensus. En-Nahda, or the Renaissance Party, withdrew from HAARO twice during deliberations, protesting that the body disproportionately favored minority views, as each party had the same allotment of three seats. Yadh Ben Achour, the head of HAARO, requested that the Prime Minister postpone elections of the Constituent Assembly until all HAARO members could be persuaded to come together agree on how to proceed, and in the end En-Nahda acquiesced. A September 10 poll found that 22.8 percent of Tunisians prefer En-Nahda, making it the most popular party. En-Nahda has likened itself to Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP), representing a liberal political Islam that is compatible with a democratic system. En-Nahda's platform pledges to guarantee individual rights, including the rights of minorities, religious freedom, and women. Revolutionary Turmoil Tunisia has not escaped revolutionary upheaval: clashes between protesters and security forces, snipers shooting unarmed protesters, arrests, looting. In May, the UN Special Rapporteur against Torture, Juan Mendez, reported that 300 people were killed and 700 injured during the Jasmine Revolution; previously circulated estimates centered around 200. The state of emergency imposed on January 14 by former President Ben Ali is still in effect. On September 6, interim Prime Minister Caid Esebisi threatened to crack down on violations of the emergency law to stifle protests, and tensions between the police and Esebisi persist. However, if we compare it to other Arab Spring revolutions, in terms of human cost, Tunisia has weathered its transition to transitional government relatively smoothly: 846 killed in Egypt (according to a government fact-finding mission), at least 30,000 killed in Libya (according to the interim Minister of Health Naji Barakat), at least 3,000 (UN estimate) killed in Syria, and reports of thousands killed in Yemen. When we compare HAARO to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in Egypt, which has forcibly removed protesters from Tahrir Square, and widened the scope of the hated Mubarak-era emergency law, the Tunisian political situation seems markedly participatory and civil. Interim Prime Minister Caid Esebisi said in June that the success or failure of the electoral experiment in Tunisia will send a strong message to the rest of the Arabic populations, BBC Arabic reports. Fortunately for all involved, it should be a message of hope. BM
