Category Archives: Elections in Tunisia

The Arab Spring in North Africa at One-and-a-Half

ROAD TRIP IMPRESSIONS

Summer 2012

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The ‘Sultanistic” authoritarian regimes and tyrants have fallen in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya but the euphoria and revolutionary enthusiasm generated in the first few months are now almost obsolete. The political and security scene in the three countries is still in flux, often chaotic and more confusing than ever.

 

“We do not forgive … do not forget  … expect us … ♥one love … one ‘shaab’ [people]” –-graffiti on a provincial school wall.

After the initial shock people are open to change, longing for social peace and stability—with whatever elements of society that are still functional, even if it’s the military or Islamists. There are major challenges: conceiving a new political and institutional framework; engineering new constitutions to formalize democratic governments; and holding parliamentary, presidential and local elections. These processes are underway in all three countries.

Islamists of both moderate and extremist persuasions are now vying for political power either at the ballot box or by other means—not necessarily peaceful ones. Some clearly hope to introduce Sharia religious law into the political system and enshrine it in the new constitutions. The rights of women, religious minorities, and all sorts of freedoms will accordingly suffer if there are not countervailing guarantees.

Only a few days after the overthrow of the Tunisian regime, self-appointed morality police turned up in the Tunis red-light district, where they threw Molotov cocktails into the brothels and threatened the women. In March 2012 a Salafist militant removed the Tunisian flag and raised the Jihadists’ black flag at the Manouba University near Tunis. A confrontation ensued that triggered the suspension of courses for weeks. A few weeks ago, a group of Salafists stormed an exhibition called “Spring of the Arts.” The rampage was triggered by a picture in which ants formed the words “Praise to God.”

A Salafist slogan on a mosque’s outer wall calling for restoration of  the caliphate خلافة as system of government. 

 

The Salafist groups have been emboldened by the passive reaction of the security services to stop them from intimidating and attacking anyone and anything they deem “un-Islamic.”

 

 

In Egypt, political Islam emerged strengthened from a revolution in which it played no part. The Muslim Brotherhood and the radical Salafists won the country’s first free parliamentary election. The Egyptian constitutional court, however, declared the parliamentary election to be invalid, and the military council curtailed the authority of the president even before the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate came into office, ultimately rendering him a mostly powerless figure.

The real message behind the recent Egyptian election is that the old regime / establishment is alive and well, but that the country is also deeply polarized. The road ahead looks increasingly hazardous and the outcome of any future political dynamic seems unknown.

 

In Libya, the legacy Gadhafi left behind doesn’t even resemble a workable state, with no political or civic institutions to speak of. The country’s July elections for a constitutional assembly, which will appoint a new interim government and a panel charged with drafting a new constitution surprisingly resulted in a resounding defeat for the political wing of Libya’s Muslim Brotherhood, bucking a trend of success for Islamist groups in other Arab Spring countries such as Egypt and Tunisia.  A moderate National Forces Alliance scored a landslide victory over rival Islamist parties. (The quasi-parliament will convene for 18 months and will have two goals: to appoint a prime minister and a 60-member commission to draft a constitution).

However, the country remains very chaotic and the provisional central government has limited powers. In early June, an armed brigade occupied the airport in the capital Tripoli, and a few days later another militia arrested employees of the International Criminal Court. They had visited the former dictator’s son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, who has been jailed in the provincial city of Zintan since November — one of more than 4,000 Libyans being held prisoner by militias throughout the country.

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Street art in Western Libya

Gadhafi asked his notorious “Who are you?” in one of his most frightening speeches in February 2011 addressed to his people. The Libyan’s responds, above, “we’ve been your tenants for the last 42 years.”

“Who are you?” [“Man antom?”] became a slogan during the Libyan Revolution; it’s equivalent to ‘Irhal’ which means “Go” or “Leave”  chanted  in other Arab Spring countries. Turned against Gadhafi by the people, “Who are you?” became a most famous revolutionary slogan along with “Jainag” which means “We are coming to get you.”

!“شبر شبر- بيت بيت- دار دار- زنقا زنقا- فرد فرد”

[Early in the uprising, Gaddafi threatened those who opposed him to pursue and fight them ‘inch by inch, house by house, alley by alley [zanga zanga] … A tautology that worked at his own expense in the end.]

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The country consists of three regions: Tripolitania in the west, Cyrenaica in the east and Fezzan in the south. The politicians in the east feel underrepresented and are calling for a confederacy (a loose federal system with substantive independent decision powers for the three regions). Last week, a convoy of jeeps carrying anti-aircraft guns blocked the coastal road between Tripoli and Benghazi. In the absence of any kind of a national military or police force, local militias and armed gangs have run amok in Libya’s cities, towns and villages. Strong separatist forces are also at play. Libya risks being torn apart by longstanding regional and tribal rivalries and by those who oppose even a return to the loose federal arrangement of the 1950s before Gadhafi seized power.

Traditional dancers in the town of Nalut in the western Nafusa mountain region. Notice the Amazigh flag held by the top dancer and the absence of the Libyan national flag

The Amazigh (Berber) flag

 

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In all three Arab Spring countries, halfway between first landmark elections and the next round of voting early next year, the political scene is fractured, security is far from normal, social dissatisfaction widespread and fear of Islamists domination overshadows many sectors of society.

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FOOTNOTES

*‘Saved by Philosophy’

The event that triggered the cascading uprisings of the Arab Spring was when a street vendor persecuted for selling fruit without a license set himself on fire and died. More than a year and a half later little has changed in Tunisia’s law enforcement practices. In early July, a widely reported case captured the news headlines for its eerie similarities to the original event. The ‘perpetrator’ was accused of unauthorized street peddling of goods (“exposait sa marchandise d’une manière anarchique!”) Appearing before a judge he pleaded guilty, declaring that indeed he’s not licensed but his social condition did not leave him much choice; he was a third-year philosophy student from a poor family and had no other means to make a living. The judge, in an attempt to gauge his truthfulness, focused his questioning of the student on his putative study major and asked him many pointed questions about philosophy and major contemporary philosophers. The student answered brilliantly. At the end the judge inquired about the student’s current predicament and what philosophical context would it fit. Without hesitation came the answer: “Les misérables of Victor Hugo. Verdict : a fine of five Dollars and 50 cents and return of all his marchandise to the student. After the Tunisian revolution, there’s little doubt that democratic practices and individual freedoms have changed the country beyond recognition. But much else is still the same : Civil, penal and criminal codes date back decades and so are law enforcement practices and ethics.

Sauvé par la philo / Journal Le temps [Archive Dimanche 15 juillet 2012]

Un jeune, la trentaine, a comparu devant le juge du tribunal cantonal de Tunis. Il est accusé d’avoir enfreint à la loi.
Etant marchand ambulant, il exposait sa marchandise d’une manière anarchique dans les artères de la capitale.
Interrogé par le juge, il a déclaré que ce n’est pas son métier mais ses conditions sociales l’ont obligé à l’exercer. Après le décès de son père, son frère aîné s’est marié et a quitté le domicile parental pour vivre avec son épouse. Il a déclaré qu’il est universitaire étudiant en 3ème année Philo et qu’il n’a aucun autre moyen pour continuer ses études et subvenir en même temps à ses besoins.
Le juge a fait preuve d’attention particulière aux déclarations de l’inculpé. Il lui a posé plusieurs questions concernant le domaine de la philosophie et les écrivains contemporains. L’étudiant a brillamment répondu à toutes les questions. La dernière question posée par le juge était sur sa situation actuelle et dans quel cadre philosophique peut-il la placer : l’étudiant a répondu sans aucune réflexion : Les misérables de Victor Hugo.
Dès la fin de l’interrogatoire le juge a annoncé le verdict : Une amende de 9 Dinars et restitution de toue la marchandise qui a été saisie à l’inculpé

 A.A

Journal Le temps – – Sauvé par la philo.
 

FOLLOW-UP:

Man immolates himself in Arab Spring reprise
The Independent, 13 March 2013, 405 words, (English)
World A young cigarette vendor set himself on fire in Tunis yesterday, reviving memories of similar events two years ago that sparked an uprising which spread across the Arab world. [GRAPHIC!]
 
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*Judging People by Their License Plates

In post-Gadhafi Libya, total chaos rules all aspects of life; there’s of course no constitution and no laws governing the country to speak of. A typical example of lawlessness is a phenomenon you notice on Libyan car license plates. For decades during Gadhafi’s rule all plates read the same: “al-Jamahiriyah;” followed by a combination of numbers. (الجماهيرية, al-Jamahiriyah, or, the state of the masses, is a Gadhafi’s invention and a much controversial and hated term discussed in some detail in his Green Book.)

After the Revolution, you see now three kinds of plates: the old ones reading “al-Jamahiriyah” often identifying the owner as a Gadhafi (old system) supporter; the same “al-Jamahiriyah” but smudged, defaced, or painted over; and new ones reading simply Libya.

There’s no new law in the country regulating car or driver’s licensing. So, practically, you can write what you want on your car’s plate, often reflecting your regional, sectarian, political and ideological view point.

Tunisian Student Stands up to Salafists Over Flag

خولة الرشيدي و السلفي

Tunisian Girl Confronts Salafists’

Flag Desecration

 

Khaoula Rashidi [خولة الرشيدي ] is a University of Manouba (Tunis) student who gained national celebrity after a video circulated of her attempt to stop the Tunisian flag from being taken down when a group of religious activists replaced the campus Tunisian flags with a black banner– a symbol associated with Jihadi Slafism.

A video circulating online shows Rashidi intervening when a Salafist militant removed the Tunisian flag and raised the Jihadists’ black flag at the Manouba University near Tunis.  He pushes Rashidi off a wall as she tries to intervene.

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On March 12, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki officially honored Khaoula Rashidi, a University of Manouba student, for defending the Tunisian national flag.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki officially honored Khaoula Rashidi at the Presidential Palace in Carthage

“The flag is the symbol of the country … the blood of martyrs … and the Arab-Islamic identity,” stated Marzouki in an emotional speech delivered during the ceremony. Marzouki also condemned the violation of the flag and emphasized its symbolic sanctity. Marzouki urged the perpetrator of the flag desecration to turn himself in to the authorities and apologize before an “independent judiciary.” He explained that no one can impose themselves as, “the spokesperson of the country, or of religion.” The flag incident at Manouba has been met with widespread condemnation by Tunisian political representatives, civil society activists, and citizens. However, no charges have yet been filed against the individual responsible for the incident.

Rachidi Family

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& Interior Minister

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Salafis do not feel that the flag did not represent them (any country’s flag!); only the salafi flag is considered by them to be the banner of Islam.  Is it possible for something positive to come out of the flag incident? Actually several!  A Tunisian woman stood up for citizenship and national identity, despite the violent assault on her.  It was also a wake-up call. Tunisians (most) felt like citizens united under their red flag. In the end, one of the salafi protesters returned the Tunisian flag high upon its pole, suggesting that differences of opinion exist in all groups.

Tunisia Elects New Interim President

On Monday December 12, 2011, Tunisia’s new assembly elected a leading human rights activist as the country’s first democratically elected president. Moncef Marzouki became the country’s first interim president in the country that sparked the “Arab Spring” nearly one-year ago this week.

(Former doctor and human rights campaigner Moncef Marzouki waves to the media at the constituent assembly in Tunis December 12, 2011)

Marzouki, of the Congress for the Republic Party, won 153 out of 217 votes in the country’s new parliament, with three votes against, two abstentions and 44 blank ballots in protest.

The election of the interim president follows the weekend approval of temporary bylaws to guide the nation until the assembly finishes a constitution.

It also comes less than two months since elections and nearly one-year after Tunisians overthrew their longtime dictator Ben Ali – an uprising that sparked similar movements in other Arab states.

كلمة المرزوقي عقب أدائه اليمين

 

Tunisia’s ‘Second Republic’ تونس الجمهورية الثانية

 Inaugural Session of Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly

الجلسة الافتتاحية للمجلس الوطني التأسيسي

The newly elected Constituent Assembly held its inaugural meeting Tuesday, 22 November, 2011 and began the yearlong process of shaping the constitution and the democratic future of the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.

Hundreds of people protested outside Parliament, demanding everything from women’s rights and reforms to limits on foreign influence over Tunisia’s affairs.  Within the body’s chambers the new opposition attempted to flex its wings and challenge the majority coalition.

The assembly elected Mustapha Ben Jaafar, Ettakatol party president, as its speaker and in future sessions he will nominate a president who will appoint a prime minister to form a new government. Maya Jribi, leader of the left of center Progressive Democratic Party, ran against him, but was beaten 145 votes to 67.

Tunisia’s new assembly holds “historic” first session

Tue, Nov 22 2011

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s constitutional assembly, elected after a revolution that inspired the “Arab Spring” uprisings, held its opening session on Tuesday, described by officials as an historic step toward democracy.

The assembly, which will sit for a year to draft a new constitution, is dominated by a moderate Islamist party whose election win last month resonated in other countries in the region where Islamists are gaining ground after the popular protests which swept three Arab heads of state from power.

Members of the assembly, senior officials in the incoming coalition government, and ministers in the outgoing cabinet stood for the Tunisian national anthem in a ceremony to open the 217-seat assembly.

“This is an historic moment .. for the transition to democracy,” Fouad Mebazza, the outgoing interim president, said at the ceremony, in the same building where the previous rubber-stamp parliament sat before the revolution.

There was a reminder of the challenges facing Tunisia’s new rulers, when about 1,000 protesters gathered outside the building.

Among them were relatives of people killed in the revolt that ousted veteran president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who are now demanding compensation from the state.

The protesters included the mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young vegetable seller who set himself on fire last December in an act of protest that triggered the revolution.

Demonstrators held up placards saying “We want justice!” and “The people want a new revolution.”

A man called Slim Hamdi, 28, said he and the other protesters were there to send a message to the new authorities. “We are not going to leave you in peace if you do not take the right path,” he said.

Tunisia’s government will be dominated by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which emerged from the election with the biggest contingent in the assembly, but short of a majority.

Its victory was the first for Islamists in the Arab world since the Hamas faction won an election in the Palestinian Territories in 2006.

Tunisian secularists say their liberal values are under threat, but Ennahda has assured them it is not planning any radical changes.

Ennahda has shared out the top three state posts with two smaller, secularist parties. Hamadi Jbeli, Ennahda’s secretary general, will be prime minister, the most powerful role.

Moncef Marzouki, head of coalition partner the Congress for the Republic, will have the largely ceremonial post of Tunisian president. Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of the Ettakatol party, was nominated as speaker of the new assembly.

A new cabinet line-up, with posts shared out between the three coalition partners, is to be announced soon.

In its first act, the assembly voted to confirm Ben Jaafar as speaker.

He received 145 votes, four members abstained, and 68 voted for the rival candidacy of Maya Jribi, of the secularist PDP party. Her party warned Islamist rule will undermine Tunisia but performed poorly in the election.

Mohamed Abbou, an official with Marzouki’s party, said the new government was aware of the weight of expectation from Tunisians who want to see their new democratic freedoms matched by more jobs and higher wages.

“This moment is the dream of all Tunisians,” he said. “We say to the protesters: ‘Do not worry, we are not going to neglect your demands’.”

Tunisian Elections, 2011

tunivote

TUNIS (AFP) – Tunisians queued in their hundreds to vote in their first free elections on Sunday, basking in their status as democratic trail-blazers nine months after their revolution sparked the Arab Spring. “The turnout of Tunisians exceeded all expectations,” elections chief Kamel Jendoubi told journalists five hours into voting, adding the final rate “may exceed 60 percent”… The European Union hailed Tunisia’s elections and vowed support for the new authorities, while British Prime Minister David Cameron said: “As the first country in the region to put democracy to the test at the polling booth, Tunisia is once again leading the way.”…

Tunisian Elections – Live Updates – Tunisia Live

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Tunisia’s Elections for A Constitutional Assembly

The campaign for the first elections born of the revolts that swept the Middle East began in Tunisia on Saturday, 1 October. It features 81 political parties (out of more than 115 recognized parties) which will be competing in the election to make up 785 electoral lists; another 676 lists are composed of independent candidates. They’re competing for 217 seats. It is expected that those elected will then have a year to write a constitution to dictate how Tunisians will govern themselves before elections for a parliament will be held.

Voters Online Guides  (about Candidates and Parties)

votunis

TuniVoteAims to Help Voters Understand Parties, Tunisia’s best fixers” A new interactive platform for voters to better know the political parties running for the elections. The web site is designed to address the questions of whom to vote for, why, and how to tell the difference between Tunisia’s numerous political parties.

Elections 2011 Ajidoo.com

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Nchoof.org | عينك على بلادك

Nchoof.org, launched on Sunday (October 2nd), enables Tunisians to present their complaints of malpractice during the electoral campaign and vote counting. The Citizenship Alliance for Elections Monitoring, which comprises associations “My Voice”, “Political Awareness” and Internet Society Tunisie (ISOC), developed the initiative.

ikhtiyo_enIkhtiarTounes New Tool for Undecided Voters

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