Tomorrow means big change for Tunisia.
For the first time in history, Tunisian citizens will choose the head of
their state in a free, democratic and transparent presidential election. This
entitled right comes after several
hundred years of great political and regional instability. The Tunisian
Revolution of 2011 saw men, women and children take to the streets in protest
and civil resistance when the long time dictatorship led by president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted to make way for the democratic vote, which is now an enshrined right in the Tunisian Constitution of 2014.
Nesrine Triki, lecturer at the University of Tunis and member
of the DOUSTOURNA Network, a non-government organization which advocates for human rights, participatory democracy and civic
education, says: “We are proud of
ourselves, especially when you see what is happening in the neighbor countries
of the ‘Arab Spring’. There is civil war in Libya, a military coup in Egypt,
political and security problems in Yemen and civil war and terrorism in Syria.”
Nesrine has been a member of the DOUSTOURNA
Network since its creation following the revolution. Its members have played a
crucial role in the drafting of the Tunisian
Constitution and have since mobilised Tunisian support around the key issues
facing this new type of transitional democracy. As people go to polling
stations tomorrow, Nesrine has volunteered to administer the electoral
processes at one such station to ensure citizen’s choices are protected.
Several training sessions later and an anticipated two days of no sleep ahead
to guarantee transparent and democratic processes, Nesrine shares the word on
the street.
