Why Tunisia missed out on the problems in Egypt and Libya

How Tunisia stayed mostly peaceful after the revolution, according to Khaled El Dakheel (Al Hayat), Suleiman Takieddine (Al Khaleej) and Diana Moukalled (Asharq Al Awsat).

What the Arabic-language media has to say about Tunisia’s recent elections. Translated by Carla Mirza

Each of the countries in the Maghreb touched by the Arab Spring have evolved quite differently. The ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood and other organisations in the region triggered diverse reactions among the people of North Africa.

While Tunisia was the place where the uprisings began, the country witnessed the least amount of violence during its transition to a new form of democracy, compared with other countries in the region.

“Tunisia was and remains, until this day, the exception among countries of the Arab Spring,” wrote Khaled El Dakheel in the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat.

Over the past four years, the country went through many difficult patches but survived them all.

“It was neither ideology nor gunpowder that allowed it to survive but rather politics and dialogue, both quite abundant in Tunisia and yet another reason for which this country is exceptional in a region known for its fear of politics and for its apprehension of dialogue,” he wrote.

“Thus it succeeded in managing its first transitional period after the revolution, while peacefully paving the way to a new constitution approved by all parties and their diverse ideological and political affiliations.

“This led up to the country’s first parliamentary elections to create its Second Republic, a success that shall only be complete after the long-awaited presidential elections in November 2014.”

He noted that “one can hardly compare Tunisia with Yemen, Syria and Libya, as each of these countries and the repercussions of their respective revolutions were drastically different”.

He also said Tunisia succeeded in achieving consensus between its various political powers during the transitional period, while Egypt failed at doing the same thing.

“Egypt’s failure can be explained through three factors: the strong presence of the army, the failure of the Muslim Brotherhood and the frailness of civil society,” he wrote.

“Tunisia’s success was based on the absence of the army, the victory of Ennahda and the strength of its civil society”.

In the Sharjah-based daily Al Khaleej, Suleiman Takieddine considered that, from the start, Tunisia’s old regime was not well equipped to manage the process of an extensive repression, whereas the opposition appeared to be steady in its peaceful political movement through a cohesive movement of unions and that of parties experienced in political campaigning and committed to a democratic process.

This includes the movement of political Islam represented by Ennahda and its leader, Rachid Ghannouchi.

He noted that Tunisia has “a strong civil society, a liberal cultural heritage and a harmonious social identity that have all concurred in excluding elements of contradiction within the broad pool of opposition forces”.

“The Tunisian revolution inspired the spark of the Egyptian revolution and benefited from the Muslim Brotherhood’s failed attempt to take over the country and society, which almost led to a widespread civil clash,” Takieddine wrote.

“In Tunisia, Ennahda opted for the success of the democratic process above all and not for a monopoly.”

In the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, Diana Moukalled wrote that Tunisia is still nostalgic for its “first experience of secularism with former president Habib Bourguiba, one that is still deeply rooted in its society, line of thought and legislation”.

Another fact, she wrote, is that “Tunisia is one of the countries with the highest number of nationals joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)”.

Referring to a recent viral tweet by a young Tunisian woman calling for a secession between the North (known as Tunisia) and the South (called Tunistan), Moukalled said that the country now faces a new challenge.

“The sour notes of this tweet should alarm the victors of the elections, because by punishing Islamists, Tunisia gifted them to ISIL,” she wrote.

“There is a need to grow the ‘Bourguiban’ option and adapt it to the current times, with wisdom in practice and insight from experience,” the writer concluded.