Tunisian Progress to Democracy Unstoppable - Despite many obstacles, prospects for reforms still look good.

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Wherever you are in Tunis today you experience heated debates: who will rule the country after free elections for a constitutional assembly on October 23? Will the Islamic Ennahda party turn Tunisia into an Iranian-style state? Why the secular parties are not so well organised? Who to vote for among the 100 and more new parties?


Sit in a cafe in the old medina of Tunis, in the middle-class Nasr area or in the posh Marsa suburb - almost everyone is arguing passionately about the current situation and how a Tunisian democracy should look.


The explosion of newly-found freedoms since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 , after a three-week uprising, is something no one can ever take away from Tunisians. If there is any consensus among the people today it is that the hard-won freedom of expression is untouchable.

"Tunis is so beautiful without Ben Ali Baba and the 40 thieves!"  Tunis, summer 2011

The country's hot topics are many: the nature of the future system - should power be in hands of the president or prime minister - the relationship between state and religion, women's rights, economic policies, reforming the judiciary and security apparatus and corruption. 

On January 14 many believed that from now on all would be just fine. But Tunisians quickly realised that the government of premier Mohammed Ghannouchi, who took over from Ben Ali, wanted to perpetuate the hated regime. He was toppled after waves of protests and replaced on February 27 by Beji Caid el-Sebsi, a former minister under the authoritarian but revered late president Habib Bourguiba. El-Sebsi's transitional government is currently navigating the country through troubled waters until the planned elections.

In parallel, a "Higher Commission for the Achievement of the Objectives of the Revolution and the Democratic Transition", a sort of political reform commission chaired by law professor Yadh Ben Achour, was set up. It includes judges, civil society members and representatives of the major parties that survived years of oppression both in Tunis and in exile. The high commission set up an electoral committee, headed by veteran human rights activist Kamel Jendoubi, which will organise and monitor the planned elections.

In principle all is on track in Tunisia. One may decide to be pessimistic and claim that Islamism is on the rise, leading to an erosion of personal rights and women's rights, that the economy has been in flux since December 2010 and that youth unemployment and poverty in rural areas are still a source of even more instability. A worrying fact is also that members of Ben Ali's dissolved party, the Constitutional Democratic rally, RCD, are clinging to key positions in the security apparatus and the judiciary.

Since Ben Ali's downfall, the country has been rocked by regular demonstrations. Members of civil society see former RCD members behind outbreaks of violence. In one incident, seven people were killed in June in the mining town of Metlaoui, with shops looted and set on fire after rumours circulated that only certain tribes would be offered jobs at the nearby Gafsa phosphate complex.

In early August, thousands protested in Tunis and provincial cities over what they saw as the government`s failure to break with the legacy of Ben Ali. The protests were sparked by the release of former justice minister Bechir Tekkari from prison and the news that Saida Agrebi, a friend of Ben Ali's wife Leila Trabelsi, had fled to Paris.

El-Sebsi promised that his transitional government would take a tougher line on allies of the ousted president. But it seems doubtful that he can do so as his cabinet does not have the legitimacy to introduce serious reforms. Holding all top officials and businessmen accountable for past crimes will not be possible during this transition period. To calm tempers, in June a Tunis court sentenced Ben Ali to 35 years in jail. The former dictator was tried in absentia because Saudi Arabia refuses to extradite him.

"I am a Moslem, I am Tunisian, I am against Ennahda. We do not accept a 

second RCD (party of toppled president Ben Alil)". Protest in Tunis, May 2011

Meanwhile, Ennahda's nebulous policies fuel mistrust, regular protests provoke further instability and Ben Ali loyalists regularly attempt to disrupt the democratic process. Optimism is nonetheless possible, and there is wisdom in the road map Tunisians have developed to move towards a truly open and democratic system. The higher commission and el-Sebsi are widely accepted, while army generals with no political ambitions are guaranteeing overall security and keeping a close eye on the hated police and intelligence apparatus.

In the meantime, Ennahda lost many women's votes when it recently suggested that the best way to solve the problem of youth unemployment would be to pay about 280 US dollars per month for every woman who left her job to stay at home. This was not only a public relations disaster but also economic nonsense.

Afterwards, many religious women, although undecided about whom they would vote for, were clear for whom they would not be voting. Ennahda, "because they have a double-language and because they are against women", I was told.

Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi will marginalise the party if he does not truly democratise. He often says the party wants to be modern and democratic like Turkey`s ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, but a clear position is missing on universal human rights and on the issue of giving Tunisian women equal rights in heritage. Ennahda means "awakening". Time has come to live up to this name.

Tunisia is also facing other challenges: opposition parties and civil society groups developed survival skills when opposing Ben Ali`s regime at home and in exile, but fighting for ideas in a free society is another art. They are now learning the hard way how to develop political programs and advocacy campaigns and how to win votes and members.

Graffiti in the medina of Tunis, summer 2011

Tunisians are developing at high-speed a democratic culture that will enable them to face four major challenges after elections on October 23 - to create a coalition of several parties to form Tunisia`s first truly legitimate government, to reform the police and judiciary, tackle regional economic imbalances and create jobs for youth as well as starting a process of transitional justice and prosecuting top human rights abusers and corrupt individuals. In parallel, the elected assembly will formulate a new constitution.

The revolution in Tunisia did not end when Ben Ali fled; it has been continuing slowly since then and will take a boost after October 23. The Tunisian people, who abhor violence and extremism, have been and will remain vigilant against a possible counter-revolution. Former RCD cadres, ideological Baathists and fundamentalist Salafists have no chance to win massive fellowship.

I believe Tunisia will develop into an exemplary Arab democracy, despite a bumpy road ahead. "We have many tough years ahead," said Sana Ben Achour, a leading women rights activist. "But have no doubt that Tunisia will overcome all difficulties. And if at some point men do not have the courage to fight anymore Tunisian women will continue fighting because they never give up".

I believe her.

Fouad Hamdan, a former DPA correspondent in Cairo and the Gulf, was the founding executive director of the Arab Human Rights Fund in Beirut in 2008-2010. He set up Greenpeace in Lebanon from 1994-1999. Since January 2011 he has been carrying out democracy-building projects in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. The article was also published in the IWPR site on the Arab Spring.