Source:
Winnipeg Free Press
Article Link:
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Published Date:
12/28/2011
NDI's Les Campbell, regional director for Middle East and North Africa programs, compares 2011's Arab Spring to the fall of the Berlin Wall in this article about the Tunisian spark that started the protests across the region.
"These are tectonic shifts," said Campbell of the changes in Arab governance. "It was unimaginable a couple of years ago. But at the same time it has been a long time coming. ... This is about human dignity and people not wanting to take it anymore."
Source:
Los Angeles Times
Article Link:
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Published Date:
12/21/2011
Author Sarah Chayes highlights a conversation she had with a newly elected member of the Tunisian parliament in this Los Angeles Times editorial. Chayes illustrates the interactions between the left-leaning and secular opposition member and his constituents as well as the questions he grapples with regarding governance in Tunisia.
Source:
The Washington Post
Article Link:
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Published Date:
11/30/2011
The Washington Post Editorial Board writes that, as Egyptians voted just a few days ago, we should be reminded that Islamic political parties are not always enemies of democracy. For example, in October, Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party won a majority of the popular vote, and it is showing itself to be committed to open political participation, the board writes.
"In any true Arab democracy, Islamist parties will win a lot of votes. As long as they are willing to play by the rules, those parties should not be treated as a specter to be feared."
Miller-McCune | Link to story »
Post-dictatorship Tunisia’s recent election for assembly benefitted women and showed the power of technology. With Tunisia’s ballot boxes closed but not stuffed, the real political winners in the country’s first free election are women.
The Yale Globalist | Link to story »
On October 24th, Tunisian voters waited for up to six hours for the chance to exercise their right to vote and elect a new constituent assembly.
Walter Isaacson (left to right), Atia Lawgali and Sheikh Mohammed Abu Luhoum discuss their Arab Spring experiences. (Photo by Kaveh Sardari)
Watch CSPAN's coverage of the discussion»
A panel of political and civic activists from North Africa and the Middle East joined NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright and Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, to discuss what’s next for the Arab Spring at an event hosted by NDI on Monday, Nov. 7.
Source:
Miller-McCune
Article Link:
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Published Date:
11/05/2011
Philip N. Howard, who served as part of the NDI election observation team during Tunisia's recent elections, writes that women are the big winners coming out of the election. According to Howard, women will fill nearly one-third of the 217 constituent assembly seats, which is more than the number of women serving in the U.S. Congress.
Howard also writes that technological investments in elections administration benefitted voter turnout, especially women's turnout.
Author:
National Democratic Institute
Publisher:
National Democratic Institute
Published Date:
10/24/2011
Resource Type:
Press Release
Language:
English, French
Khaleej Times | Link to story »
Seattle Times | Link to story »
Tunisia, a country that had never experienced democracy, held a successful election last week. This was the first election of the Arab Spring, and the first in an Arab country where the outcome was unknown and the electoral system not predisposed to shaping the outcome. Why did the election work so well?
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