A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Back from the Brink in Tunisia? Nahda, UGTT Agree to Transition?

Tunisia's dominant Al-Nahda Islamist Party may just have agreed to do what the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt could not bring itself to do: share power with the opposition in order to avoid an Egyptian-style race off a cliff. Nahda leader Rached Ghannouchi and the UGTT Trade Union Conference agreed to a UGTT proposal that would lead to talks between Al-Nahda and the opposition aimed at a power sharing agreement and a technocratic government in the run-up to new elections. The agreement today (here and here) follows European pressure for a settlement and meetings in Paris and elsewhere.

It will still take determination to make it work, but this agreement is a first step.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So the new form of democracy in the Arab World is ---

If you win an election but are an Islamist party, you must share power with those who didn't win the election or the military will stage a coup.

So, if the non Islamist parties win a free election, do they have to share power with the MB or the military will stage a coup?

Or is this a one way "democracy"?

Michael Collins Dunn said...

Anonymous: But Nahda only had a plurality, and power sharing was required from the start.