Tunisia's Uprising Revolution

-Background: (intro)

     Throughout the past four years, The Arab World witnessed a wave of an anti-government movements across the Middle East and North Africa. These Uprisings began due to many factors; among which we have the corruption, poverty, governments’ repression, and the most crucial reason was the dominance and the dictatorship of the Arab-Leaders towards their people. As a result many revolutions Erupted in order to restore freedom and democracy.

        The first revolution in the Arab World started in Tunisia. Which protested against the oppression and injustice within the community. Forcing the President Z-A-B to withdraw and flee towards Saudi Arabia in January 14th 2011. The success of this uprising, which came to be known in the media as the “Jasmine Revolution,” inspired many countries such as Egypt, Syria, and Libya. Consequently all of these countries followed the path of Tunisia and started their own revolutions.

       Tunisia nowadays is considered as the only Arabic country, which achieved peace and democracy in such a short period of time and with minimum casualties. Hence, motivated by Tunisia’s remarkable progress, this research will study the promising transition of Tunisia and use it as guide in order to orient and urge the other affected countries like Libya, Egypt, Syria to follow the path of Tunisia to restore order and peace. Therefore, the question How did Tunisia manage to avoid the worst-case scenario of the revolution? and become a role model for the other Arab countries.

        According to books like The Arab Uprisings” what everyone needs to know” by James L.Gelvin, Political Transition in Tunisia written by Carla E.Humud and Alexis Arieff , and Transforming Tunisia by Shelley Deane; Tunisia has shown an unprecedented understanding about the revolution and its incomings.

-The Beginning of Post-Ben Ali era:

     After the escape of the Tunisian President Zen El-abidine Benali, Tunisia  is now obliged to remove all what is left from the previous dictator regime, and start a new page with w new constitution with fair and free elections under the title of Democracy for Tunisia .

1-The first Elections:

      The campaign for the first elections began in Tunisia on Saturday, October 1st 2011.wich is considered as the first election held after the Uprising outset in the Arab Countries. Featuring 81 political parties competing for 217 seats. It is predicted that the elected parties will have a year to write the constitution to determine how the Tunisians will rule themselves before moving on to the parliamentary elections, and then to the presidential ones. The results were announced after the counting started on October 25th, 2011. After years in exile Ennahdha party showed up again proving its presence as an undisputed opponent in the electoral roll, which appeared after its victory by the majority of seats in the election. This party is one if not the biggest and most organized parties in the country, and it is reasonably Islamist. Its program contains economic liberalism and to allow a great presence of Islam in the public life. The leader of Ennahdha is Rached Ghannouchi, he engaged in the election with no intention to be in the government. Instead, the General Secretary Hamadi Jebali ran as the Prime Minister candidate.  El Ghannouchi said after the party’s victory announcement that: "We salute Sidi Bouzid and its sons who launched the spark and we hope that God will have made Mohamed Bouazizi a martyr. We will continue this revolution to realize its aims of a Tunisia that is free, independent, developing and prosperous in which the rights of God, the Prophet, women, men, the religious and the non-religious are assured because Tunisia is for everyone. “

    2- The Islamist-Secularist Conflict:

       For the Tunisians things were not that simple and the Problems grew in the country, and the increasing violence by religious radicals, including an attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis September 2012. The violence increased in mid-2013, when an assault on a military installation in Tunisia's western region and two political assassinations; all perpetrated by indigenous jihadists sank the country into a political crisis. Consequently a revival of protestations in 2012 was led by opposition’s accusations of Ennahda Party for going easy on hard-line Islamists, who promoted the idea of an Islamic state based on strict Sharia law. The main source of opposition and the contender of Ennahdha was the Nida Tounes party. Led by Béji Caïd Essebsi, who was an interim Prime Minister in 2011 and a senior official under Ben Ali. According to the popularity in Tunisia this Centrist, Secular party appeared to be a strong rival against Ennahdha party. Even-though many critics portrayed the Nida Tounes party as a container for counter-revolutionary characters from Ben Ali’s era. The tension arose between the Secularists detractors on one hand who accused the Islamist party of displaying moderation intentionally to win the acceptance, while planning to introduce restrictive laws and institutions progressively. Furthermore, the Islamists on the other hand saw these critics as a clear and personal opposition to Islamism, saying that the Secular elites have lost their claim to legitimacy and they are seeking the return of the Former regime.