Be prepared to wait in line.
"More than 2,000 Tunisians marched in favor of a secular state that allows press freedom and other rights. The demonstration was a response to protests and violence by Islamist extremists.
Tensions are high ahead of an Oct. 23 vote to elect an assembly charged with writing a new constitution. The vote follows the uprising that ousted Tunisia’s autocratic leader in January and sparked the Arab Spring.
New ultraconservative groups of Muslims known as Salafists have attacked movie theaters and TV stations in recent days for showing material they say denigrates Islam.
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"Tunisian women gain, slowly" October 23, 2011|By Bouazza Ben Bouazza and Paul Schemm, Associated Press
TUNIS - The new constituent assembly that will emerge from Tunisia’s landmark elections this weekend will, without a doubt, have one of the highest percentages of female members of any Middle Eastern parliament.
But for the female activists of Tunisia, who have long distinguished themselves from the rest of the Arab world for their progressive policies of equality, it is not enough....
Tunisia is one of the few Arab countries where women have long been allowed into the hallowed ranks of the judiciary and are prominent in medicine, education, government, and even the security forces. Women make up 55 percent of university students....
And that is now in jeopardy?
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"Tunisians cast historic votes peacefully - and in long lines" October 24, 2011|By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times
TUNIS - Millions of Tunisians cast votes yesterday 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,’’ he said. “The whole Arab world is watching.’’
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. Results were not expected before today.
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 former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali 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.
After 10 months of anxiety and street protests since the sudden uprising that forced 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....
From luxury resorts to the most crowded slums, the voting appeared to run smoothly. The interim government deployed soldiers to watch over polling places from the outside, and voters waited patiently in long lines for an hour or more in many locations. In less affluent and more culturally conservative precincts, voters segregated themselves into one line for men and another for women....
You are already moving backwards, ladies.
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"Islamic party makes strong showing in Tunisia’s first elections; Ennahda wins half of overseas seats in new assembly" October 25, 2011|By Paul Schemm, Associated Press
TUNIS - A moderate Islamist party claimed victory yesterday in Tunisia’s landmark elections as preliminary results indicated it had won the biggest share of votes, assuring it will have a strong say in the future constitution of the country....
Uh-oh.
Tunisia was known for decades for its repressive leadership but also for its progressive legislation on women and families, which secular-leaning Tunisians fear Ennahda will roll back if it takes a commanding number of seats in the new assembly....
Is it just me, or is the agenda-pushing AmeriKan media implying the dictatorship was better?
See: Tracking Tunisia
He was a corrupt dictator, but he loved the ladies (sigh).
Turnout in Tunisia was massive on a day electric with the excitement, with long lines at polling stations.
Hey, I don't want to spoil their fun with my cynicism.
More than 90 percent of the country’s 4.1 million registered voters, out of a 7.5 million strong electorate, participated, said Boubker Bethabet, secretary general of the election commission.
Voters were electing a 217-seat constituent assembly that will shape their fledgling democracy, choose a new government, and write a constitution that would pave the way for future elections.
I can see why they are excited.
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"Islamist party seeks coalition in Tunisia" October 26, 2011|Associated Press
TUNIS - The moderate Islamist party that appears to have won Tunisia’s landmark elections was in talks with rivals yesterday about forming an interim coalition government to lead the birthplace of the Arab Spring through its transition to democracy.
Oh, no!
Partial results released yesterday supported the Ennahda Party’s claims that it had won the most seats in a 217-member assembly with the task of running the country and writing its new constitution. But results so far indicate the Islamists had failed to win an outright majority, meaning a coalition must be formed.
Oh, thank Allah!
Ennahda’s ability to win an election as well as work with other groups will be closely watched in the Arab world, where other Islamist parties are to compete in elections soon....
Meaning its being closely watched by the powers for which the mouthpiece media fronts.
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Also see: Tunisia's Islamists Are Out
"Tunisia summons Arafat’s widow" November 01, 2011|Associated Press
TUNIS - Tunisia has issued a warrant summoning the widow of deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over a corruption scandal, the state news agency reported yesterday.
The warrant was issued last week over Suha Arafat’s role in a scandal involving the former Tunisian dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, his family, and other high government officials, said Kadhem Zine El Abidine, spokesman for the Justice Ministry.
He did not provide any details, but an online journal “Attounissia’’ said she was being investigated over the International School of Carthage, which she founded in 2006 with Ben Ali’s wife, Leila Trabelsi.
See: The Trabelsis of Tunisia
Relations between the two deteriorated over the next year until Suha Arafat was declared persona non grata and she left for Malta, where her brother Gaby al-Tawil was the Palestinian ambassador.
A Palestinian official in Tunis, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said she was still living in Malta.
The warrant is a summons for questioning, either as a suspect or witness to the case, not for arrest.
After Arafat died, Suha Arafat received a Tunisian passport. Her citizenship was revoked three years later after a dispute with the family of Ben Ali.
Since the uprising that ousted Ben Ali in January, Tunisian courts have been pursuing people linked to the former regime on charges of corruption.
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