A new direction

There were long queues outside polling stations with no major incidents as millions of Tunisians voted for a constitutional assembly on Sunday.

Over the course of a year, the body is to compile a constitution for the state of more than 10 million. It will also install a new temporary executive government and prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections.

The fact that the country's first free elections appear to have gone ahead peacefully and with no major disruptions shows that there is a political consensus among Tunisians, according to Michael Gahler, member of the European Parliament and leader of the EU Election Observation Mission.

"The Tunisian people want this election and they support the impartial election commission," said Gahler.

Future direction still unclear

With their toppling of the regime of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali nine months ago, Tunisians showed there was a strong desire for democracy. The results of the election, expected on Monday, are being seen as an indicator of whether they also want it to be a liberal democracy. It remained unclear on Sunday which political groupings would represent the majority in the assembly.

Observers expect that the Islamist Ennahda party of Rachid Ghannouchi will emerge as the strongest single party. Although it was officially banned under the regime of Ben Ali, it is the only political party in the country to have an organizational structure.

What exactly the party stands for is unclear. There are fears that it may be closely linked with radical movements such as the country's Salafists, who are in favor of the separation of men and women in public and who claim that elections are not in keeping with Islam. In the election campaign, Ennahda, like some other parties, has avoided giving details of its policies. However, it has denied links with the Salafists, and, to the surprise of many, stressed that all women must be free to decide whether or not they wear a headscarf.

Dividing line in party

Klaus Loetzer, who is head of the center-right Konrad Adenauer Foundation's Tunisia office, believes that the party is divided. "Some follow more of a Turkish model and want a division of Islam and the state, while others want the religion and the state to be brought together with Sharia law as the basis for state activities and the civil and legal framework," said Loetzer.

Because Ennahda has only a few potential coalition partners, it is questionable whether it would have enough to assume political leadership.

In total, more than 100 parties are standing in the elections, and observers expect that about 10 of them will be represented in the constitutional assembly, which also has independent candidate lists so people can be represented who are not in any political party. The proportional voting system has a tendency to promote small parties and independent candidates.

Altogether, there are 27 electoral constituencies within Tunisia and a further six abroad. Electoral law stipulates there should be one seat in the assembly for every 60,000 people, with the assembly comprising of 217 delegates.

Author: Anne Allmeling / rc
Editor: Andrew Bowen