Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood To Seek Majority In Coming Elections

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Western media is reporting on comments by the leader of the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood, known generally as En Nahda, that he hopes his party will win a majority in July elections. According to a Financial Times report:

Tunisia’s long-repressed Islamist party is staging a political comeback as its activists reorganise at great speed for what they hope will be a strong showing in the July elections, the first democratic poll in more than two decades. Nahda was not a prominent group in the youth-led revolution that swept away the 23-year rule of Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali in January. The revolution provoked a political earthquake in the Middle East, inspiring similar uprisings across the region. But benefiting from a general amnesty and the party’s legalisation during the transition to democracy, Nahda’s former activists have been busily setting up offices in provinces across the country.  The movement’s leaders, meanwhile, have begun unofficial campaigning for the July 24 poll in which Tunisians will choose a constituent assembly that draws up a new constitution and prepares for legislative elections. ‘We are rising from the ruins,’ says Rachid Ghannouchi, Nahda’s leader, who returned home from exile in London at the end of January. ‘Ben Ali failed to erase the memory of Tunisians – they still remembered.’ Mr Ghannouchi said that he was surprised by the sympathy that still existed for Nahda, des pite the party’s treatment by the former regime. ‘People saw [Nahda activists] as victims of Ben Ali, as the worst victims of Ben Ali,’ he told the Financial Times in an interview in Tunis. By regional standards, Nahda is considered a moderate Islamist organisation, and uses Turkey’s AKP, now ruling that country, as its model. Yet its sudden reappearance on the political scene has spread alarm among secular Tunisians who take pride in having the region’s most progressive social laws, including those on women’s rights. Mr Ghannouchi said he hoped Nahda might win a majority of the vote in the July poll, which rivals say overestimates the Islamists’ appeal. Politicians, however, agree that the Islamist party could well emerge as the single largest in the assembly. Secular parties, both liberal and leftist, are fragmented while traditional parties are just learning how to run for genuine elections.”

Setelah kejatuhan empayar Islam Othmaniah, kita telah melihat beberapa siri penindasan dan kekejaman yang telah menimpa umat Islam sehingga hari ini. Umat Islam seolah-olah telah hilang taringnya yang tidak mampu melawan kekuatan musuh. Islam telah kehilangan rijal-rijal yang akan kembali membawa kegemilangan Islam. Pukulan hebat dan penangkapan serta penyembelihan berlaku pada umat Islam apabila umat Islam mula bangun cuba untuk menegakkan Islam kembali. Umat Islam seolah-olahnya kehilangan pedoman dan panduan apabila melihat kekuatan musuh  yang begitu hebat.