“The best way to deal with the Islamists is to include them in the process,” said Marwan Muasher, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an election observer with the National Democratic Institute. “There’s no excuse for keeping them out.”
In stark contrast to the Islamists’ success was the apparent poor performance of the secular Progressive Democratic Party, the strongest legal opposition under Ben Ali’s government. The PDP ran a campaign that cast its leaders as the protectors of secular and modern values. Dozens of parties were on the ballot, and secularists were divided among many of them. On Monday, the PDP conceded its loss and pledged to work in the opposition rather than with Ennahdha.
“We congratulate the winning party and wish them good luck in fulfilling their promises to meet the demands of the poor and the unemployed within nine months to a year,” PDP leader Nejib Chebii said at a news conference, referring to the constitution-writing assembly’s time frame.
Ennahdha expects 42 percent to slightly more than half of the council seats. Some within the party worry that an outright majority would push the burden of Tunisia’s daunting problems squarely on their shoulders.
“Are we going to do well in terms of putting up this democracy? Are we going to do well with the West and U.S.?” Ferjani said, referring to how people will measure the party’s performance. “People will expect from us and anybody in office to lay a very strong foundation and deliver a political democratic system in a place that cares about majority and minority alike.”
Ennahdha and other factions are in discussions about how to run a multiparty consensus government while the assembly writes the constitution. Ferjani said the party would want the position of prime minister, who appoints the cabinet, as well as service ministries such as education, health and development to fulfill campaign promises of enhancing social services.
“We are in internal discussions and reaching out to other parties for a coalition government,” said Intissar Ghannouchi, the daughter of the party’s head, Rachid Ghannouchi. “People voted for credibility and went to parties with a long track record of those committed to the struggle against dictatorship.”
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