So, for an update after my first post on the Tunisian elections, it was announced a few days ago that Ennahda did indeed win the most seats in the Constituent Assembly (89 of 217). The Congress for the Republic came in second with 29 seats and the Popular Petition was 3rd with 26 seats. Many independent parties also won seats (see this Al-Jazeera article).
At the moment, Ennahda cannot veto or pass an action on its own. Our professor said in class yesterday than as a result, Ennahda is seeking to form a coalition with the other major parties. This political map was written just before the election, so the percentages come from polls and not actual election results, but it shows how the various parties fall on the political spectrum very well and gives brief descriptions of each one.
On another note, Egypt is gearing up for its own round of elections. The Egyptian Parliament consists of two houses, the lower house (Majlis al-Shaab) and upper house (Shura). There will be three rounds of elections for the lower house, and the first round will take place on November 28th (see Al-Jazeera again). This live blog, again from Al-Jazeera, is covering the election process. I think this election will be a very important marker of how much is actually going to change in Egypt in the future. We are already seeing several differences between the election process in Tunisia and the election process in Egypt. The most significant difference is that in Egypt, Mubarak's former political party, the National Democratic Party (NDP), will be allowed to participate in elections, while in Tunisia Ben Ali's former party was banned. Although this makes Egypt seem more truly democratic, it could also provide an opportunity for all the same faces from Mubarak's regime to take power again. We'll have to wait and see.
No comments:
Post a Comment