Tunisians cast their ballots for fresh leaders to rewrite the laws of the country’s political system, nine months after ousting of former Tunisian President Zine Abadine Ben Ali.
Archbishop Lahham told Fides on Saturday October 22, “I am optimistic about the future of Tunisia. The situation is very calm. Last night, the campaign ended without any incidents and now we are living in the expectation of the vote.”
Archbishop Laham said, “The Tunisian parties are 120, of which 110 have presented themselves in the elections. This certainly is likely to cause confusion among voters, accentuated by the fact that it is the first time that the Tunisians vote in elections, which are truly free. They are not accustomed to the election campaign, conducted by the parties, promising more or less the same thing. There is enthusiasm but also uncertainty.”
The Archbishop feels that Tunisians have started their journey towards a model democracy.
Meanwhile women in Tunisia seek to garner most leadership positions. Out of the 11,000 candidates, half of them are women.
“I am very proud of these women, all of whom are extremely capable candidates,” Maya J’ribi General Secretary of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and top of the electoral list for the Ben Arous governorate of Tunis, told IPS just days before the election.
“We are moving towards a women’s era in Tunisia,” she told a packed hall Saturday, where at least half the attendees were women, some of them veiled.
Meanwhile, women representatives from all parties have been forced to contend with intense discrimination in the media. Despite the fact that 50 percent of all electoral candidates are women, only 25 percent of media space was reserved for women.
IPS reports say women’s groups, who mobilised their members to cast ballots on Sunday, are keen to ensure that the push for women’s rights is not co-opted after the election into another male-dominated constitution. The revolution has changed the situation, but there are still obstacles to realising the goals of the revolt, especially for women.
In the past, no one had any choice but to vote for Ben Ali who had been in power for 23 years. The results of the first free vote in Tunisia are expected today, Tuesday 25.
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