Presidential Elections Held in Tunisia; Main Competition Among Secularists

On Sunday, December 2, the people of Tunisia went to the polls to elect their next president in the first free presidential election in the country's history. International news agencies, including Reuters, have reported that the main competition in this election is between Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of the Nidaa Tounes party, and Moncef Marzouki, the current president, both of whom are secular figures in Tunisia and opponents of Islamism. Mr. Marzouki has been serving as the interim president since December 2011, following the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, elected by the Constituent Assembly of the new regime. In addition to these two, 28 other candidates with various views are running for the presidency, and Reuters has reported that the election results will be published by Tuesday. A candidate who receives more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round will be directly elected as president; otherwise, the election will go to a second round. Tunisia, with a population of about eleven million, was the first Arab country to initiate the revolutions known as the Arab Spring in 2010, which also affected Egypt, Libya, and Syria. Among these countries, Tunisia is almost the only one that has achieved both relative stability and democracy with free elections. Earlier this year, a new constitution was ratified in Tunisia, which limited the president's power compared to before 'to prevent the emergence of new dictators.' The parliamentary elections held last month resulted in the Islamist party Ennahda losing its majority in parliament to the secular Nidaa Tounes party. However, Ennahda, which is the main Islamist movement in Tunisia, immediately congratulated its rival. This party has also announced that it will refrain from introducing a candidate for the presidential election to prevent the polarization of Tunisian society.