Ennahda party to form coalition government, promises not to impose Islamic banking system or require dress code for foreign tourists.
By REUTERSEnnahda party Tunisia 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Islamist leader whose party is now Tunisia's most powerful political force met stock market executives on Wednesday to send the message that the government ushered in by the "Arab Spring" revolt will be business friendly.Officials were still tabulating results from Sunday's election -- the first democratic vote in Tunisia's history -- but the moderate Islamist Ennahda party is on course to be declared the winner by a wide margin.RELATED:Jewish candidate in Tunisia finds victory in defeatDemocracy in TunisiaThe vote, 10 months after a Tunisian vegetable seller set fire to himself in an act of protest that set in motion the "Arab Spring," will resonate in other countries, especially Egypt and Libya, which are wrestling with their own transition from repression to democracy.Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi has gone to great lengths to reassure secularists and the business community, nervous about the novel prospect of Islamists holding power, that they have nothing to fear.
No Islamists have won power in the region since Hamas won a 2006 election in the Palestinian Territories.Tunisia's new leaders are also aware that they need urgently to address problems of poverty and unemployment that have grown worse since the revolution.A senior party official said Ghannouchi met on Wednesday executives from the Tunis bourse "to send the message that the stock exchange is very important and that he is in favour of more listings to accelerate economic growth and to diversify the economy."The Tunis stock market index, which fell sharply when trading resumed after Sunday's election, rallied on news of the meeting. Shares were up 1.13 percent at 10:34 GMT.Ennahda, citing its own figures, says the election gave it 40 percent of the seats in the assembly which will draft a new constitution, appoint an interim government and set a date for new elections late next year or early in 2013.That tally, if confirmed by the election commission counting the votes, would still require the party to form alliances with secularist parties if it is to have a majority. That is expected to dilute its influence.Votes not tanksSpeaking in front of a jubilant crowd of party supporters on Tuesday night, a party official promised the Islamists would share power with secularists and eschew radical change."There will be no rupture. There will be continuity because we came to power via democracy, not through tanks," campaign manager Abdelhamid Jlazzi said at party headquarters."We suffered from dictatorship and repression and now is an historic opportunity to savor the taste of freedom and democracy," he said.Shortly before he spoke, an Ennahda female candidate who does not wear the Islamic head scarf sang along to Lebanese and Tunisian pop songs on a stage. The party says her inclusion is proof of its moderate outlook.Tunisia became the birthplace of the "Arab Spring" when Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in protest at poverty and government repression. His suicide provoked protests which forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee in January.The Islamist Ennahda party, which has won Tunisia's first free election, said on Wednesday it would not impose restrictions on how foreign tourists dress on beaches and would not impose Islamic banking rules, according to state media."The tourism sector is among the achievements which we cannot touch. Is it logical to handicap a strategic sector like tourism by forbidding wine or wearing bathing costumes? These are personal liberties for Tunisians and foreigners as well," the official TAP news agency quoted Ennahda secretary general Hamadi Jbeli as saying."We will not make Islamic banks universal. We are not going to abolish the banking system that exists," he said.
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