Tunis goes to polls today

TUNIS: Tunisians are set to vote in the first free election of the Arab Spring, nine months after the fall of former President Zinedine el Abidine Ben Ali.

They will elect a 217-seat assembly that will draft a new constitution and appoint an interim government.

Islamist party Ennahda is expected to win the most votes, though it is not clear if it will gain a majority.

Mr Ben Ali fled Tunisia on 14 January amid the first of several mass uprisings across the Arab world.

Campaigning in Tunisia has been marked by concerns over splits between Islamists and secularists, party funding and voter apathy.
But correspondents reported widespread optimism and excitement as the campaign season drew to a close on Friday.

Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, has sought to allay the fears of Tunisian secularists by stating its commitment to democracy and women's rights.

Reuters adds: Islamists are expected to do well in Tunisia's first democratic election on Sunday, 10 months after the ouster of autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in a popular uprising that set off protest movements around the Arab world.

The Ennahda party will almost certainly win a share of power after the vote, which will set a democratic standard for other Arab countries where uprisings have triggered political change or governments have tried to rush reforms to stave off unrest.

Sunday's vote is for an assembly, which will draft a new constitution to replace the one Ben Ali manipulated to entrench his power. It will also appoint an interim government and set elections for a new president and parliament.

Polls open at 2 a.m. EDT and close at 3 p.m.

The mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young man whose self-immolation last December set off the Tunisian revolt, said the elections were a victory for dignity and freedom.

"Now I am happy that my son's death has given the chance to get beyond fear and injustice," Manoubia Bouazizi told Reuters. "I'm an optimist, I wish success for my country."

Ennahda, banned under Ben Ali who is now in exile in Saudi Arabia, is expected to gain the biggest share of votes. But the Islamist party will probably not win enough to give it a majority in the assembly and will seek to lead a coalition.

The North African country's elite fear the rise of Ennahda puts their secular values under threat. The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has centered its campaign on stopping the Islamists, vowing to seek alliances to keep it out of power.

Ennahda has been at pains to assuage the concerns of secularists and Western powers, fielding several women candidates including one who does not wear the hijab, or Muslim head scarf, and promising not to undermine women's freedoms.

Tunisia was a pioneer of secular modernization among Arab and Muslim countries in the post-colonial period, banning polygamy, equalizing inheritance rights, giving women the right to vote and discouraging the veil.

Fundamentalist Islamists known as Salafists have attacked a cinema and a TV station in recent months over artistic material deemed blasphemous. Ennahda says they have nothing to do with them, but liberals do not believe them.

Observers says Ennahda's intentions are not clear. Its election campaign has scrupulously avoided offering policy details that mark it out as much different from its rivals.

At a final election rally on Friday, Suad Abdel-Rahim, the female candidate who does not wear a veil, said Ennahda would protect women's gains.

But illustrating the party's contradictions, many of the books on sale on the fringes of the rally were by Salafist writers who believe women should be segregated from men in public and that elections are un-Islamic.

"In the country's interior, where it's more conservative, they use different rhetoric," said commentator Rachid Khechana. "It's about stopping culture from outside, moral corruption of youth, defending Islam, which they say has Shura (consultation), not democracy." (Reuters)