Tunisians Prepare to Head to the Polls

Tunisians prepare for upcoming elections as campaigning closes on Friday, two days before their first democratic elections. Nine months after President  Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted, the once banned Islamist party, Ennahda, is poised to “dominate,” the upcoming elections, with some pollsters predicting they will win up to 30% of the vote.  Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi ”urged Tunisians on Thursday to go vote without fear, and sought to give assurances that the poll will be fair.”

However, Ennahda warned this week of the risk of vote fraud, and “vowed” a new uprising if this was the case. The ISIE, the Tunisia electoral authority created earlier in the year to oversee the electoral process, has implemented some strict rules to monitor and regulate campaigning such as a “ ban on campaign advertising ahead of the official campaign period.” Essebsi stated in an interview with the New York Times that he would like to remain a member of the new government, creating controversy among many Tunisians.

As many fear a rise of the Islamists in the upcoming election as well as the growing debate of the role of religion in government, Victoria Taylor of the Council on Foreign Relations argued that “An-Nadha’s burgeoning popularity may reflect an interest by many Tunisians in having greater religious freedom, and does not necessarily portend a radical shift in the fabric of society.”