• Tunisian voters go to polls in Arab Spring's first post-revolutionary election
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[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15416702[/url] • Tunisian voters are today electing a 217-seat constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution and appoint an interim government, in the first free election of any post-Arab Spring country. • Moderate Islamist party [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Party]Ennahda[/url] is expected to win the most votes, and perhaps gain a majority. The party advocates 'combining Islam with modernity' and rejects sharia law. • The election is the first of any post-Arab Spring country; Egypt's parliamentary elections will begin on November 28, while Libya is to hold constitutional assembly elections within eight months. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Party[/url] [quote=BBC News]Voting has begun in Tunisia in the first free election of the Arab Spring, nine months after the fall of former President Zinedine el Abidine Ben Ali. Voters will elect a 217-seat assembly that will draft a new constitution and appoint an interim government. Islamist party Ennahda is expected to win the most votes, though it is not clear if it will gain a majority. Mr Ben Ali fled Tunisia on 14 January amid the first of several mass uprisings across the Arab world. Campaigning in Tunisia has been marked by concerns over splits between Islamists and secularists, party funding and voter apathy. But as campaigning drew to a close on Friday, correspondents reported widespread optimism. The mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young man whose self-immolation last December triggered the Tunisian revolt, told the Reuters news agency the election was a victory for dignity and freedom. "Now I am happy that my son's death has given the chance to get beyond fear and injustice," Manoubia Bouazizi said. "I'm an optimist, I wish success for my country." "I didn't sleep at all last night from excitement," voter Houcine Khlifi, 62, told the AFP news agency on Sunday morning as he was queuing to cast his ballot in central Tunis. "Tunisia today offers to the world a bouquet of flowers of liberty and dignity." High expectations Unlike its eastern neighbour Libya, Tunisia's transition from authoritarian rule has been largely peaceful. Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, has sought to allay the fears of Tunisian secularists by stating its commitment to democracy and women's rights. Its closest challenger is expected to be the secular, centrist Progressive Democratic Party (PDP). There are more than seven million people of voting age. More than 100 parties have registered to participate, along with a number of independent lists. Hundreds of foreign election observers and thousands of local ones will be monitoring the poll. The EU observer mission has said that the overall campaign has been transparent. This democratic moment carries an enormous burden of expectation, not just in Tunisia but across the Arab world, says the BBC's Allan Little, in the capital, Tunis. Tunisians led the Arab Spring; they know the world will be watching this key stage in the transition, he says. There seems here an overwhelming popular will to succeed, our correspondent adds. Mr Ben Ali was ousted on 14 January after weeks of popular protest and fled to Saudi Arabia. However, in the eight months since then, the economy has worsened as business and tourists stay away. Polls will close at 19:00 (18:00 GMT) and results are expected by Monday. The new assembly is expected to draft a new constitution within a year.[/quote]
Hopefully they will get out of this bloodlessly
They elect a Fascist pro-Sharia government to power. I fucking call it.
Don't jinx it yet! D: Though I do wish they'd keep religion out of politics. Governing a country on an international level should be done with a completely level head and without bias.
[quote][B]Islamist[/B] party Ennahda[/quote] Oh fucking hell. I really hope that the BBC journalist who wrote it meant 'Islamic', as opposed to Islamist.
[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;32921762]They elect a Fascist pro-Sharia government to power. I fucking call it.[/QUOTE] The revolution will complete its entire turn of the wheel soon, to be shortly back where they began.
Guys, for fucks sake, don't jump to conclusions. Ennahda have rejected the Sharia law, and there are plenty of Social Democratic, Liberal and Secular parties in Tunisia. Read up. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Tunisia[/url]
[QUOTE]The party advocates 'combining Islam with modernity' and rejects sharia law.[/QUOTE] AWWWWW YEAAAAAHHHHHH lolcaps
[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;32921762]They elect a Fascist pro-Sharia government to power. I fucking call it.[/QUOTE] If that is what the people of Tunisia want then that is what they should get.
I'm hopeful for this actually. Maybe we can finally see some stability in the middle east.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;32922472]AWWWWW YEAAAAAHHHHHH lolcaps[/QUOTE] uhh calm that optimism [quote]The group supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The group, or members of it, were also responsible for the bombing of some tourist hotels in the 1980s "Why are we put in the same place as a model that is far from our thought, ... while there are other successful Islamic models that are close to us, like the [B]Malaysian[/B] and the Indonesian models; models that combine Islam and modernity?[/quote] Malaysia, what the west thinks of when thinking of 'moderate' islam. [quote]Other sources question the sincerity of Ennahda. Ahmed Ibrahim of the Tunisian Pole Democratique Moderniste political bloc complained to a foreign journalist that Ennahda appears "soft" on television, "but in the mosques, it is completely different. Some of them are calling for jihad."[/quote] Kind in mind there are equally good comments as well. But it's not clear cut at all, and could be either.
Well, as a democracy the people should still have the right to kick people out of office if they're disapproved by the majority. This is the first time it's been introduced to the country, and I highly doubt they'd be willing to go back. Worst case scenario, it'll be another uprising.
They sound like an islamist equivalent of European Christan Democratic parties, not that bad, considering there was a dictatorship before the revolution.
I'd prefer it if these guys won actually: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_for_the_Republic[/url]
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