IJCentral: International Justice Central

Tunisia Leads Arab Democratic Transition
October 23, 2011 set the first democratic elections in the Middle East since revolutions swept the region. After years of rigged elections under now-ousted President Ben Ali, Tunisians, both inside the country and those living abroad, elected a constituent assembly that will write a new constitution, appoint a government to replace the interim government, and set dates for the parliamentary and presidential elections. Along with leading the way in the Arab revolution on January 14th, ousting an authoritarian leader, and now, holding the first representative elections, Tunisia has became a state party to the International Criminal Court (ICC). On June 24, Tunisia became the 116th state to accede to the ICC’s governing treaty, the Rome Statute that entered into force for the country in September.

H.E. Ambassador Ben Becher expressed Tunisia’s “commitment to supporting the efforts of the court in order to put an end to impunity, promote accountability, broaden its scope of action and enshrine its universal character”. Tunisia has already shown a commitment to international law, namely, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by refusing to extradite the former Libyan prime minister to Libya where he would be at risk of torture. According to the ICC, the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute commended Tunisia’s decision as an expression of commitment to the rule of law and the country’s future, adding, “Tunisia’s accession to the Rome Statute is also a testament of the profound changes brought about by the ‘Arab Spring’, which started in Tunisia”. 

Islamic Parties’ Appeal
The democratic elections resulted in the Al-Nahda (Renaissance) party, founded in 1981, winning forty percent of seats in Tunisia’s 217- member constituent assembly. Other winning parties included the Progressive Democratic Party and the Etajdid Movement. Al-Nahda was the strongest opposition force in Tunisia before the crackdown that forced Ghannoushi, the movement’s leader, out of the country in 1989. Upon the fall of Ben Ali, Ghannoushi returned from 21 years of exile in London. The Al-Nahda Party, a long-banned Islamist movement, had not been involved in Tunisian elections since 1989 and was legalized after the ouster of Ben Ali in January. The party identifies itself as a democratic Islamic party advocating Islam as a political solution. What is important to keep in mind during these representative elections is that the revolution was not led in the name of a single political party or Islam but rather stressed universal human rights, democracy, dignity, and even secularism. This can only confirm that parties such as these will not be allowed to exploit the revolution or they will be removed.

One aspect of the success of Islamic parties is their role as organized opposition to the former corrupt regimes. Under Ben Ali and Mubarak, Al- Nahda and the Muslim Brotherhood, respectively, were placed in a negative light. Now that those regimes themselves have been revealed to be corrupt, the Islamic opposition parties have become relatively favorable. Al-Nahda has also invoked nationalist rhetoric and pride, stressing the need for Arabic to emerge as the prevalent language and also a factor uniting Tunisia with the rest of the modern Arab world. These parties are identifying ways to reach their constituents and are getting better at doing so. Al Nahda has its own website, Nahda.info in Arabic, and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) has its Ikhwanweb in English which claims: “From the beginning, Ikhwan’s goals were both social and political, promoting the causes of benevolence, charity and development on the one hand, and nationalist independence and Islamism on the other… This goal has been expanded to include the full establishment of shari’ah”. Yet this is not to say that countries electing Islamic representatives will be completely Islamicized. In fact, under Bourguiba and Ben Ali, Sharia law had already been implemented in courts in terms of family law, and its practice is not something to be attributed to Al-Nahda.

It is too early down the path of transitional democracy to predict the success of new governments with a considerable Islamic influence. Yet Turkey has been constantly cited as an appropriate “model” for the democratizing Arab countries. Prime Minister Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party operates using the French concept of laïcité, while simultaneously maintaining Islamic values. His popularity among Arab states has risen in his recent stance against Israeli injustices with regards to Palestinians. The Turkish ability to reconcile Islam, democracy and simultaneously achieve economic expansion is viewed as exemplary and remarkable.

Western response
In her speech at the National Democratic Institute on Monday, Secretary of State Clinton addressed inconsistencies in U.S. policy toward the revolutions. The U.S.’s so far fickle policies toward the various regional uprisings was recognized, and a pledge for the United States to work with the Islamist Al-Nahda party in Tunisia was made. It seems to be in the U.S.’s best interest to engage with these different forms of democratic representations, whether or not it views them favorably. Democracy involves the will and participation of the people, and future election results will most likely reveal an Arab desire to shift away from Western- backed governments like the ones they’ve had for decades prior. Whether this trend will be in U.S. and foreign interest should not undermine the movement’s representative and democratic characteristic. At the same time, while the West should evolve in terms of its foreign policy in the Middle East, the ideological movements in the Arab countries will need to adjust to the different post- revolutionary reality.

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