Tunisia elections

NINE months after Tunisians overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Ennahda, an Islamist party banned by the previous regime, appears to have won the most seats in the North African country`s elections for a constituent assembly. Since the Islamists have not won an outright majority, they will most likely form a coalition government with leftist and liberal parties.

Turnout has been strong and international observers appear satisfied with the fairness of the polls.

Ennahda styles itself after the AKP, Turkey`s ruling party, which also has Islamist roots, and has distanced itself from extremism while pledging to respect pluralistic values.

Following the polls in Tunisia, which gave birth to the Arab Spring, Egypt is due to hold parliamentary elections next month; there too a party aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood is tipped to lead.

The Tunisian elections seem to confirm the belief that Islamists will fill the political void left bydecades of dictatorialrule in many parts of the Arab and Muslim world. It is true that in most of these countries Islamists form the most well-organised political groups, as even during autocratic rule these entities used the mosque to organise themselves. As dictators disallowed democratic freedoms and crushed dissent, the most active opposition was formed by parties rooted in political Islam.

Tunisia should serve as a lesson to others. Most importantly, the democratic process must not be stalled for fear of an Islamist takeover. History should be allowed to run its course and the people`s choices need to be respected. If fledgling democracy an evolutionary process, especially in societies run for long periods by autocrats is tinkered with the results can be disastrous. We have before us Algeria`s example: a savage decade-long civil war ensued there in the early 1990s when the state cancelled elections Islamists were poised to win.