Nidaa Tounes’ victory in the recent Tunisian elections represents a shift away from the events that brought the Islamist Ennahda Party to power in 2011. Its success also appears congruous with other trends in North Africa, where a groundswell of protest in Egypt ultimately led to President Muhammad Morsi’s ouster and where the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist candidates fared poorly in Libya’s House of Representatives elections this past summer. But do these events signal that the tide is turning against political Islam?
Nidaa Tounes and those who voted for them should take comfort in knowing that the Tunisian electorate has not become irreversibly religious. But for those Tunisians who see Islamists as the adversary, the recent election outcome reveals little with respect to the ideological commitment of Tunisian voters.
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