The Tunisian Revolution

On October 23, 2011, the Tunisian people exercised their democratic rights and elected their first congress after three decades of authoritarian rule. Nearly 90% of the population voted in the election.

The Islamic Nada political party won 89 seats, which was followed by the Dastour political party with 29 seats and the Takatul Democratic political party with 20 seats. The three major political winners have pulled 147 seats out of the 217 total seats and have agreed to share power and form a collision government.

The Islamic Nahda was given the prime minister position. The Dastour party was given the position of president of Tunisia. The Takatul Democratic party was given the position of the president of congress. The next major step for the newly formed Tunisian government is to arrange for the drafting of a new constitution that will be the second one since Tunisia’s independence in 1956.

The Tunisian revolution experienced some political problems during February 2011, when some of the followers of the previous regime tried to redirect the objective of the revolution but failed to influence its direction. The protestors were aware of the plots that were influenced by followers of the previous regime, but continued their uprising until they eliminated the influence of those who were trying to redirect the goal of the revolution. This ensured their success.

Unfortunately, similar things have been going on in Egypt, which is contributing to a split in that society. The major factor behind the feeling of letdown among the majority of the population is attributed to the negative role that the Egyptian Higher Military Council has been playing. They want to maintain their power despite their denial of that. After all, they are part of the previous regime.

It should be of interest to compare the role that the Tunisian military has played during the revolution and the period that followed until the election took place vis-à-vis the Egyptian military role.

So far, and by any standard, the Tunisian population has played a very constructive role that has led to the success of their revolution. In addition to that, the various organized political parties have played a very constructive role in the political arena that has added to the civility of the Tunisian democratic election process. The Tunisian political elections reflect a very positive model that other Arab states should imitate.