Establishing a New Interim Government
On February 28, 2011, Beji Caid-Essebsi became Prime Minister of Tunisia.
Essebsi began his career as a lawyer in Tunisia in 1952 after studying in Paris and worked to defend members of the Neo Destour activitists who were seeking Tunisian independence from France. Under the governments of Bourguiba and Ben Ali, he held a number of important political posts, including President of the Chamber of Deputies in the early 1990s. At the age of 84, he was selected to be Prime Minister after the resignation of Ghannouchi.
On March 3, 2011, the interim president of Tunisia, Fouad Mebazza, announced the beginning of a new era in Tunisia in a televised speech. This new era would lead to elections scheduled for July 24, 2011 when Tunisians would elect members of a constituent assembly that would write a new constitution for Tunisia. Until those elections, Mebazza pledged to stay in power and work with the newly-appointed Essebsi to reshape a new caretaker government. His speech was met by celebration and approval from major political leaders in Tunisia.
For more information about this speech, see this article or watch the speech in Arabic below.
The following day, March 4, Essebsi made a speech himself, announcing that he hoped to form a new interim government within two days. He reassured the people of Tunisia that the new government would maintain the principles and spirit of the uprising which had ousted Ben Ali from power. He also announced that members of the interim government would not be allowed to participate in the 2011 elections, thus those who wished to do so would have to resign from their positions immediately (several resignations did follow).
Al Jazeera reports on this speech here.
Essebsi kept his promise and announced a new government on March 7, 2011. He named six new ministers to vacated posts—some ministers had resigned in hopes of running for office and others resigned/were forced out because of being too close to the Ben Ali regime. When announcing this new government, the Prime Minister made clear that his priorities were to reestablish security in Tunisia, to rebuild Tunisia’s economy, and, of course, to make preparations for the coming elections. It was also announced that the State Security Department, “whose so-called political police spied on and harassed citizens under Ben Ali”, had been abolished. The Interior Ministiry made this last announcement using Facebook, sending a message that this government was no longer the anti-social networking regime of Ben Ali.
You can read more details about the March 7th decisions here.
On March 9, a judge ruled that the Constitutional Democratic Rally, Ben Ali’s party, be disbanded and its funds seized. Leaders of the part lodged an appeal, but the ruling was upheld on March 28. On the same day, President Mebazza announced that the Minister of the Interior, Farhat Rajhi would be replaced by Habib Essid upon the prime minister’s recommendation.
See this article for more details.
Preparing for Elections
In early March 2011, Interim President Mebazza had scheduled elections for July 24 of the same year; however, many Tunisians worried that the interim government would fail to organize these elections. In late April, Essebsi had already begun hinting that the elections might have to be delayed due to technical reasons, then on May 5, a video interview with the former interior minister, Farhat Rajhi, was released and spread widely via Facebook. In this interview, Rajhi warned that a clique of “Saheliens” – people from the rich coastal where many of the former regime’s most powerful members live – were planning to ask the head of the country’s military, Rachid Ammar, to help them stage a coup d’état if the Islamist party, Ennahda, were to dominate the elections. He also accused the interim government, especially the Prime Minister, of corruption and lies; Rajhi also claimed that Kamel Ltaief, a close ally of Ben Ali, was actually working in the background to control this new government.
To read more about this interview or to view it in Arabic, visit Al Jazeera.
The warning was met by violent protests in Tunis where protestors called for a new revolution and the resignation of the interim government. Shortly after the protests broke out, Rajhi apologized for his statement and asserted that he had only been talking in hypotheticals which had been incorrectly interpreted by individuals.
Al Jazeera and USA Today report on these protests, or watch a video from Tunisia Live below.
It was not until May 9, 2011 that the Tunisian Higher Election Authority (ISIE), an independent group overseeing the constituent assembly election, was established, perhaps in a reaction to the protests that had broken out the week before. The electoral committee consisted of 23 members, including lawyers, academics, and other professionals. The ISIE is generally in charge of legal matters, public communications and observer accreditation. The ISIE also led a campaign to encourage and inform voters about how to register and how to vote, continuing to rely on social media outlets to reach voters. The ISIE’s webpage can be found here (in Arabic or French).
Al Jazeera reports on the establishment of the ISIE.
Listen to “Tunisia Seen As Laboratory For Arab Democracy,” a description on NPR about the fragile situation that Tunisia faced in May 2011.
At the beginning of June, Prime Minister Essebsi announced that elections would have to be delayed until October 23, mainly for logistical reasons. For more details, see this article.
Then, on July 11, voter registration for the elections began and was scheduled to last for three weeks Voter registration for the constituent assembly election begins. However, by the end of July, only 1.76 million of the estimated 7.5 million eligible voters had registered for the elections, so the enrollment process was extended an additional two weeks until August 14 so that more voters could register. By August 14, 3,882,727 Tunisians were registered to vote.
If you want to read more about voter registration, visit Al Jazeera.
As the voter registration process began, protests broke out again on July 15th ; this time a group of protestors organized in central Tunis in front of the Prime Minister’s residence, calling for Essebsi’s resignation and a new government. Police, trying to break up the protest, fired tear gas inside of a mosque. This incident led many in Tunis and across the country to riot. The government claimed that the riots were orchestrated by extremist groups trying to undermine Tunisia’s stability.
You can read this article or watch a video clip for more details.
The next step in the election process was the registration of candidates which began on September 1 and ended one week later. Eighty-one parties and hundreds of independents registered during the period. Then, on September 15, twelve of Tunisia’s major political parties signed the “Declaration of the Transitional Process” which states that the parties would respect the ISIE’s ethical code for election. They also agree that the constituent assembly will be in power for a year at most, that the interim government is to step down immediately after the election, that the constituent assembly will select a new government which will remain in power until the constituent assembly has finished its duties. At that point, Tunisians will then directly elect a new government.
For more information about the Declaration of the Transitional Process, read an article at Tunisia Live
.
October 1 marked the beginning of campaigning for the constituent assembly election (campaigning was to end on October 20). When campaigning began, it was reported that about one half of Tunisian voters were undecided about who to vote for in the elctions.
To read more about the atmosphere in Tunisia as campaigning began, read a BBC article here and a USA Today article here. You might also be interested in listening to this segment from NPR.
You might also be interested in details about how the election was to run. If so, please read these FAQs published by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and these FAQs published by BBC.
Sentencing of Ben Ali
As Tunisians readied for election in October of 2011, their spirits were also lifted by the news that Ben Ali and his wife had been sentenced in absentia to 35 years in jail each. The June 20th sentencing was expected to be the first of a long series of trials involving the former Tunisian president. At this time, he was accused of embezzlement and illegally possessing large sums of cash and jewelry that were found in one of his palaces. In addition to the jail time, the president will be subject to fines totaling about $65 million USD. Although Tunisian officials had asked the Saudi government to extradite Ben Ali, the Saudis did not fulfill this request, leading to some frustration among the Tunisian people who want to see Ben Ali tried in person.
Listen to an NPR segment about Ben Ali’s sentencing.
Problems with Libya
The revolution in Tunisia inspired those living in other parts of the Middle East under autocratic rulers like Ben Ali to take notice and follow its lead. However, when the revolution broke out in its neighboring country, Libya, problems arose for Tunisia. First, conflict in March of 2011 in Libya caused many migrant workers to flee to Tunisia and Egypt. The large number of refugees entering Tunisia outpaced the ability of the government to properly deal with them. Later, in early April when Qaddafi’s forces went on attack, more Libyans fled to Tunisia for help where they were met by surprising welcome. “Hundreds upon hundreds of Tunisians…have opened their homes to these Libyan families since early April, when Colonel Qaddafi’s forces went on the attack.”
The New York Times reports on both of these situations in Tunisia: the refugee problem and the hospitality of Tunisians.
Libyan refugees were not the only problem from the country. In late April, Libyan forces crossed into Tunisia as they fought with rebels along the border. Tunisia’s government ordered Libya to immediately stop the incursions.
To read more about the incursion of Libyan forces, see here.
Posted by: Blakeley Brown
tunisiaweekly 
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