Coalition Talks, Unrest in Tunisia After First Vote of Arab Spring
28 October 2011
Rachid Ghannouchi (R), leader of the Islamist Ennahda party, speaks with his secretary-general Hamadi Jbeli (L) during a news conference in Tunis, October 28, 2011
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
This week, the first elections of the Arab Spring took place in Tunisia, the country where the protest movement began.
Tunisians, in their first free elections, voted Sunday for an assembly to write a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly also has to appoint a president and form a temporary government.
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Late in the week, there was violence in Sidi Bouzid, the city where the protests against Tunisia’s longtime president began. The violence started after election officials cancelled the results of seats won by the Popular List party. The officials said there were campaign violations.
Official results show that an Islamist party, Ennahda, won more than forty percent of the seats in the assembly. Ennahda has begun talks with other parties on forming a coalition.
Party leader Rachid Ghannouchi said Friday that his party would work to form a new government in "friendliness" and "brotherhood."
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Mr. Ghannouchi called for calm. He said his party would respect women's rights and Tunisia's pro-Western values.
The election was widely considered free and fair. Ennahda won three times as many seats as its nearest competitor. A liberal party, the Congress for the Republic, finished second with thirty of the two hundred seventeen seats.
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