Arab Spring Down: Islamists Lose in Tunisia

Ghannouchi

Around this time two years ago I predicted counterrevolutions against Islamist rule in Egypt and Tunisia. The Muslim Brotherhood fell hard and fast in Egypt. In Tunisia it’s been more of a slow drawn out fight.

But now the Arab Spring wellspring has fallen.

A few days ago the New York Times was predicting that the Islamist Ennahda party would rebound and portraying them as the victims. So much for that.

Tunisia’s main secular opposition party is claiming victory in the country’s historic election for a new 217-member parliament.

The Nidaa Tounes party says a preliminary ballot count shows it has won close to 80 seats, more than any other party.

The ruling Ennahda party conceded defeat on Monday, saying it will accept the result. Former Primer Minister Ali Larayedh urged party followers to look toward the next elections.

Ennahda isn’t as done as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, it could still climb back, but this is a severe blow to the political Islamists and their Western backers who hoped to propel them to power through elections.

Not long ago Tunisia was still being cited as a success story. Now the Islamists have lost there too.

Nidaa Tounes is not just any party, it combines members of the old overthrown pre-Arab Spring regime with assorted leftists and unions, the latter’s protests had effectively crippled Islamist rule earlier.

This is a comeback for the establishment and a win for a more secular society.

  • UCSPanther

    I don’t think the Tunisian people want to be ruled by a totalitarian theocracy, and no one can blame them for that…

    • Biff Henderson

      The fallback position of old guard, assorted liberals and unions. A dysfunctional despot no matter how you slice it.

      • Gee

        Better than a theocracy – much better

        • Biff Henderson

          Much better is conflicting concentrations of evil plotting to gut one another. A temporary reprieve until the Beast of People give it another go.

  • ping

    So democracy worked, that means the Arab Spring succeeded.

    • rodger the dodger

      No, it’s what they already had before the so-called ‘arab apring’ gave them hardline muslims.

      This isn’t something new and different for them.

      • ping

        So Ben Ali was a good honest democrat? I guess that guy who inflamed himself missed the memo.

        • Daniel_Greenfield

          The sexist who set himself on fire because he was slapped by a woman?

          Totally worth turning the country over to terrorists

    • Gee

      No they went back to the dictatorship methods they had before. Not democracy, but better than what they were headed toward

    • Daniel_Greenfield

      More like mass violent protests by the left, bloodshed and a state of chaos worked leading to the implosion of the government.

      If you want to call that democracy….

  • rodger the dodger

    So, when does the civil war start? Place your bets, please…

  • http://libertyandculture.blogspot.com/ Jason P

    I also read in the Times that Tunisia sends the most foreign fighters to ISIL of any Arab nation. The ideology is still strong there. The good news (from the same Times article) is that 60% returned disillusioned.

    It reminds me of the 1920s when “idealists” went to the Soviet Union. Many came back disillusioned. However, they were dismissed as prejudiced (Sovietphobia if they had thought of the word). The 20s brought the Red Decade of the 30s. It wasn’t until Churchill’s Iron Wall speech did we see sustained and sizable opposition.

    It takes about a generation before there is solid and sustained opposition. The West’s fear of Islamophobia will hamper the effort and aid the Islamists. But it’s good to see signs even if it is only like the end Bela Kuhn’s Soviet state in Hungry it shows the nascent signs of opposition.

  • Sigi

    Tunisia’s revolution was not about Islamism, though the salafists benefitted for a while. It was push back against an oppressive and corrupt government. The outcome of this election was more a solidification of the forces behind the original movement toward democracy.