WHAT'S THE ARABIC FOR KONRAD ADENAUER?:

Tunisia elections: An-Nahda party on course to win (Angelique Chrisafis, 10/24/11, guardian.co.uk)

An-Nahda, which was banned for 10 years and brutally repressed under Ben Ali, with activists exiled, tortured and imprisoned,said it had taken the biggest share of the vote based on early predictions before the official results expected .

The party campaigned on a moderate, pro-democracy stance that sought to allay secularist fears by vowing to respect Tunisia's strong secular tradition and the most advanced women's rights in the Arab world.

The party compares itself to Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) - liberal and socially conservative.

Said Ferjani, from An-Nahda's political bureau, said: "We have to be careful about figures until the official results, but there's a consensus that we're around the 40% mark. It's something that we were expecting.

"We already have our ideas about the government. We are not dogmatic; we are highly pragmatic. It will be a broad national unity government. The new reality is that we have to do what we do for the Tunisian people - we go beyond old lines of argument or disagreement."

Thanks, W.


Posted by oj at October 24, 2011 7:07 PM
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