Tunisians Vote in First Free Election

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Tunisians voted today in the first free election of the Arab Spring, nine months after former President Zinedine el Abidine Ben Ali was ousted following a one-month uprising. The polls opened early Sunday morning with some 4.4 million registered voters picking a 217-member constituent assembly from a field of 11,000 candidates. 80 political parties were represented with some candidates running as independents. Despite worries about voter apathy, hundreds have turned out and stood in long lines for hours to vote, despite high temperatures.

The new multi-party assembly will have the task of writing a new constitution and appointing an interim president and a caretaker government.

Campaigning has been marked by divisions between Islamists and secularists, with the moderate Islamist party Ennahda expected to win the most votes. Concerns have also arisen about tainted money influencing the race, with liberals saying that Ennahda has strongly benefited thanks to financial support from allies in the Persian Gulf. But the liberals have also come under fire, with Islamists and residents of Tunisia’s impoverished interior charging that they have received funding from the business elite of Ben Ali.

Two Arrested Before Elections

The government had deployed 40,000 police and soldiers in the capital and shopkeepers had stockpiled milk and bottled water in the event of unrest. Tunisia has been quiet in the weeks leading up to the election, with isolated protests against Nessma TV.

Two were arrested prior to the elections. Bilal Dhaifallah, an independent Salafist opposed to the elections had participated in protests in the Kasbah against the interim government. Authorities arrested him at his house Saturday night and questioned him over his Facebook profile photo, which shows him in Libya holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

In the Kasbah near government offices, police suppressed a sit-in of young men who, during peaceful protests in January, were shot and are demanding that the government provide basic health care. Tahrir Hammami, a human rights activist, was arrested. One of the hunger strikers is Rachid el-Arbi, who was shot in the upper chest and is now paralyzed from the waist down. His mother, Leila el-Arbi, is not participating in the elections, saying “who would I vote for?” Tarek Dziri was also shot in January and must now use a wheelchair. Still, he came from his town of Fahs to Tunis to join the protest.

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Photos taken October 23, 2011, in Tunisia by Bellyglad

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Quanta K.

2:55AM PST on Dec 22, 2011

Thanks.

send a green star

Sonny H.

1:27AM PDT on Oct 31, 2011

Very good!

Doug A.

1:51AM PDT on Oct 25, 2011

Nice to have some good news from that part of the world. I wish all of them a long and pleasant life! :-)

Lynn C.

3:57PM PDT on Oct 24, 2011

They probably know more of what they are voting for than we do! We certainly can't brag about what's going on with our elections.

Marilyn L.

12:48PM PDT on Oct 24, 2011

Rim K what a wonderful comment. I feel that way everytime I vote, 1. that is is my civic duty and 2 knowing I have the freedom to choose. I wish most of my fellow Americans could read your comments, perhaps it would inspire them to do their civic duty. Thank you so much and good luck.

12:43PM PDT on Oct 24, 2011

I wish them freedom and a uncorrupted democracy.

Rim K.

12:39PM PDT on Oct 24, 2011

I am Tunisian, and yesterday, for the first time in my life (though I'm only 21) I voted, freely and willingly choosing the party that goes with my ideas, opinions and ideologies!
Yesterday was a day of glory, a day to remain in our minds for ever! It is a day to be engraved in our memories, and our history!
People of all ages (18 to 110 years old!!! ) went to vote, to choose, and to do their civic duty! We all wanted to make a difference, and we did! I was one of the first to vote at 7.15 am, and believe me, when I left, the lines in front of the doors were already huge and people kept coming until 7 pm!
Now, a priori it seems that El Nahdha is the one to get the majority of seats in the constituent assembly, but I guess that would be the choice of the people, and we'll just have to accept it! But, as I have heard, El Nahdha is not an extremist Islamist party, and it is not going to bring back polygamy, or make the "hijab" compulsory... They promised to be a moderate Islamist party that will respect opposite opinions, freedom, and tolerance... Let's keep hoping that they'll be faithful to their promises in case they do win the majority of the seats!
But all I want to say is that yesterday was a "Aid" (arab for feast/ festival) for the Tunisian people and that is how they really lived the moment! Everybody was more than happy to vote, whether it was for the first time or not. Yesterday we got to truly vote for who we chose to give our voice!

Jillian E.

10:33AM PDT on Oct 24, 2011

If the Islamists get the majority I hear they are going to have sharia law which is worrying for women but they also want to bring back polygamy, the reason being so many women have been widowed and abused by the old regime's troops, this will give them the opportunity to remarry and thus have some security.

Marianna B M.

10:28AM PDT on Oct 24, 2011

good for them. let them have some free wind blowing over there as well

KAREN L.

10:01AM PDT on Oct 24, 2011

I live there....I voted....and the people will find a just system after all these years of oppression. Perhaps things didn't work out the way that some hoped and that includes the islamist party which will have to work with all the others since they will not have an absolute majority.