Elections in Tunisia: The Decline of the Islamists?
The elections for the new parliament in Tunisia on 25 October brought unexpected changes to the configuration of the political power in the country.
The victory of the secularist party Call of Tunisia, created only two and a half years ago, pushed the Islamist An-Nahda party, the favorite in the elections for the interim parliament in 2011, into second place.
Call of Tunisia, with 85 seats in the parliament, received 40% of the votes. The Islamists lost almost a quarter of their electorate and have to be content with 69 seats in the 217 seat parliament.
Local observers explain their decline by the disappointment of many Tunisians with An-Nahda’s rule in recent years. Their hopes for improvements have been replaced by mass discontent with the failing economy, price rises and unemployment, and a hitherto unknown phenomenon, the problem of security.
It has arisen as a result of an upsurge in Salafism, the actions of extremists, complicit in assassination attempts against a number of politicians and attacks on security forces, particularly in the mountains of Tunisia on the border with Algeria.
The newly formed Call of Tunisia came into being in the wake of the Arab Spring, when dozens of parties sprang up in Tunisia, adopting similar slogans for progress, development, universal democratic liberties, etc. The weak structure, disunity and at times fierce rivalry of these organizations left people bewildered and led to confusion during elections, which played into the hands of An-Nahda.
The success of Call of Tunisia was chiefly inspired by its founder, the 87 year-old Beji Caid el Sebsi, a veteran of Tunisia’s ruling elite. During the rule of the first president of independent Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, he headed a number of ministries and held the post of prime minister in the country.
His creation gathered under one roof those Tunisians who for various reasons were dissatisfied with Islamist rule. From secularist liberals, leftists, nationalists, progressives to policy-making staff, who had made up the core of the ruling party, which was disbanded after the revolution.
A number of democratic organizations sided with Call of Tunisia during its ideological confrontation with An-Nahda. It received support from the influential General Labor Union and the Tunisian Employers Association.
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