On Saturday night I saw a Tunisian friend of mine I hadn't seen for a while.
I told him about the various changes in my life: the new job, new apartment, new bank account. And then he replied, telling me about work and his girlfriend. And then he put his finger up and said, "I voted" with a smile on his face.
This weekend Tunisians are voting in the first truly democratic elections their country has ever had. Their president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was deposed in January of this year, right before I arrived in Paris. Unlike in Egypt the transition to a more democratic state has proceeded fairly smoothly. The numerous Tunisian expatriate community also has the right to vote, and so my friend voted in Paris.
I have tried to follow the transition in Tunisia, but it has been difficult because of the complexity of the events. Forces which had been suppressed for years have suddenly taken form in a few months time. Rhetorical battles over the future of Tunisia have been launched. It's hard to know which direction things will go. The only major details I have been able to take away is that there are over a hundred parties and that the main Islamist party is called Nahda.
I asked my friend which party he had voted for. He told me the name, and I just shook my head. He understood that it was completely natural for me to have no idea who they were. He smiled again and said, "Not Nahda."
We shared a laugh and then clinked glasses, drinking to Tunisia and its democratic future.
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