Islamist Rule in Tunisia is Over

[Valin]

Dispatches:

Michael J. Totten

1/9/14

 

Tunisia’s Islamist prime minister resigned today and ceded power to a caretaker government. He was not overthrown by guerrillas or by the army, but by peaceful and legal means familiar to citizens raised in democracies.

 

Tunisia is still the model for post-revolutionary politics in the Arab world. I expected as much at the outset and explained why three years ago. Morocco is the only Arab country in the entire world as politically mature. Egypt is an emergency room case, Libya could turn into a failed state if it’s not careful, and Syria is suffering near-apocalypse. Iraq is…well, it’s Iraq.

 

And truthfully, that headline of mine is a little exaggerated. The Islamists never actually ruled in Tunisia. They were simply the largest party in a governing coalition, and they were resisted at every step by millions of liberals, secularists, and socialists who also had a voice and a vote.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Tunisias Islamist Prime Minister Steps Down and Keeps the Arab Spring Alive

Now an interim government will have to keep the ship afloat ahead of elections planned for 2014.

Noah Rayman

Jan. 10, 2014

 

Tunisias Islamist Prime Minister resigned Thursday, setting in motion the plan to end the political impasse that has hobbled the countrys transition to democracy. After months of political wrangling, Tunisias ruling Islamist party is poised to peacefully hand over powera sign of compromise that has been woefully absent elsewhere in the region.

 

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring in early 2011, has struggled to find its footing since the ouster of the autocratic President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, even as it avoided the bloodshed that plagued other post-revolution Arab countries, most notably Egypt. The moderate Islamist party Ennahdha was swept into power in 2011 elections for an interim government, but then came under mounting criticism for failing to improve the sputtering economy and ensure security. The interim regime repeatedly missed deadlines for drawing up plans for a permanent democracy, and the deadlocked government was headed into an existential crisis.

 

(Snip)

 

To make matters more difficult, the technocratic interim government will not have the electoral mandate to tackle Tunisias most pressing issues. That means that while Tunisias secular opposition will welcome the demise of Ennahdha rule, the country may have to hold out for new elections, still months down the line, before it sees the reforms it badly needs. We have to wait for the next government for the implementation of the real structural reforms in the economic and social fields, Selim Kharrat, director of the government watchdog al-Bawsala, told TIME in an interview in November as the political negotiations were underway. Politicians have to be aware that they cannot take their time.