Secular party wins most seats in Tunisian election with Islamists coming second

Nidaa Tounes, a secular party has won the most seats in yesterday's election in Tunisia. It main rival the moderate Islamist Ennahda came in second.

The Turkish news agency Anadolu. after examining its count of 214 of the 217 seats in parliament. claimed that Nidaa Tounes had won 83 seats, with about 38 percent of the popular vote, while Ennahda won only 68 with about 31 percent. Mourakiboun, a Tunisian election observer group, claimed that Nidaa Tounes had 37 percent of the vote with Ennahda at 28 percent. Officials from both the main parties said that although the results were still somewhat premature, they matched their own information. Final results will probably be released on Tuesday.
 Nidaa Tounes is led by Beji Essebsi, who served under the deposed Ben Ali and even earlier under Bourgouiba, the founder of independent Tunisia. He is 87. The party is a coalition of former pre-revolution officials, secularists, and liberals formed back in 2012. Turnout for the elections was about 62 percent of eligible voters. There is to be a presidential election next month. This is the second election since the Arab Spring uprising that overthrew President Ben Ali in 2011. Ben Ali is in exile in Saudi Arabia. Ennahda won the most seats in the first election and formed a coalition government. However, radical Islamist groups caused security problems and the economy has not prospered. There were large protests against the government. However, Ennahda agreed to step down after mediation by the powerful Tunisian trade unions, and a transition government was agreed to that resulted in the present elections.
 An Ennahda official conceded defeat but called for a coalition unity government. Lotfi Zitoun said: "We have accepted this result, and congratulate the winner Nidaa Tounes. We are calling once again for the formation of a unity government in the interest of the country." Ennahda is a moderate Islamist party. In the campaign the party claimed to have learned from its past mistakes, but Nidaa Tounes pointed out that in government the party had mismanaged the economy and failed to control hardline radical Islamists who were blamed for the murder of two liberal politicians.
 Ironically, many associated with the Nidaa Tounes party are officials and politicians from the Ben Ali era who now claim to be technocrats. Many no doubt do have the administrative skills the government will need, and are also still popular where they had been regional politicians. While there are many liberals and secularists in Tunisia, there are also a considerable number of adherents of militant Islam. As long ago as the 1980s, Tunisia sent jihadists to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and almost 3,000 are estimated to be fighting now in Syria.
  Michael Willis, a North Africa expert at Oxford University, claimed that the decline in Ennahda's decline in popularity showed public discontent with the economy: “On the doorsteps, the economy was the main issue. Nidaa Tounes is seen as having the expertise to get the economy back on track.” The Muslim scholar and leader of Ennahda, Rachid Ghannouchi, said that Tunisia needed a broadly based, multiparty government of national unity to continue to consolidate its democratic institutions.

Tunisia predicts growth of 4.5 per cent in 2013

The Tunisian Planning and Regional Development Minister predicts GDP growth of 4.5% in 2013. This would be up from the 3.5% growth predicted for 2012.

The Tunisian economy has only gradually recovered from the turmoil during the overthrow of President Ben Ali in January 2011. The slow pace of economic growth has led to many being disappointed with the results of the revolution.
Back in March of this year the government cut its growth forecast from 4.5% to 3.5%. There were declines in tourism and also foreign investment. Tunisian exports are also suffering from the lack of demand from Europe as the debt crisis there continues. In December of 2011 the Tunisian government foresaw growth of 4.5% in 2012.
The moderate Islamists elected to run the country are business friendly but there have been clashes between them and leftist secular opponents.There are also more radical Islamists challenging the moderates. During 2011 the economy actually shrank by 1.8%. The situation is improving considerably in 2012 even though progress is slow and unemployment high.
Tunisia has been helped by Qatar a strong backer of the revolution. Qatar has loaned Tunisia $500 million U.S. The moderate Islamist Ennahda party coalition government has excellent relations with Qatar. Turkey has also extended Tunisia a 500 million dollar line of credit.
Jamel Charbi the Planning and Regional Development Minister claims that the 4.5% growth predicted for next year can be met by boosting consumption and investment as well as consolidating exports. His statement was intended to counter some observers' pessimistic forecasts about the economic future of the country.
Charbi said that 22.7 per cent of GDP would be allocated to public investment next year to help manufacturing and mining to recover. He said this would create 90,000 jobs. The government has managed to keep interest rates low and inflation in check. On the other hand the government has been hit by resignations including that of the finance minister and the governor of the central bank.
Even under Ben Ali Tunisia had the highest GDP per capita in the area. The population of ten million revolted in part because of economic conditions and hence is impatient for better times to come soon. However given the problems in Europe economic growth will probably remain relatively modest at most. Even at that, they are doing much better than many countries in southern Europe.


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Tunisia: Thousands rally against Islamic extremists

  Although the party that swept the recent polls Ennahda is described as moderate more radical Islamists have become more assertive in Tunisia. The hard line Salafists disrupted classes at a university just outside Tunis. The group demanded that mixed sex classes cease and that female students wear the full face veil or niqab.
   Several thousand demonstrators protested outside the Bardo Palace. Inside lawmakers are working to draw up a new constitution. The former Ben Ali regime was secularist. In fact the full face veil was banned from the university under his rule.
   Not all the protesters were protesting the new assertiveness of the Salafists, many were protesting their economic situation. There was a contingent of miners who pitched tents in a sort of Occupy Tunis demonstration. Others complained about the lack of transparency about what the government was doing. Some think that the major party Ennahda is trying to concentrate power in the new prime minister Hamadi Jebali. For more see this article.