Searching For Stability, Tunisia Stumbles
Tunisia took the lead in the Arab Spring back in 2011. Its revolution was swift and largely peaceful. Within months, an assembly was elected to write a new constitution.
As other Arab countries grew more violent and chaotic, Tunisia seemed to be showing the way for an orderly transition away from authoritarian rule.
But it's been getting more complicated in Tunisia recently. The prime minister resigned, an opposition leader was assassinated, and public discontent is mounting with Ennahda, the moderate Islamist movement that won elections back in October 2011.
So is Tunisia hitting a bump in the road as it remakes itself, or are these the signs of a looming crisis?
Last week, Ali Larayedh from Ennahda was appointed as the new prime minister after Hamadi Jebali resigned. Tunisia's government must now appoint leaders to a number of important positions, including the Interior, Justice and Foreign ministries. The country still needs a new constitution and must set a date for elections.
The country is also suffering from a weak economy that has been unable to create jobs for the many young people who were at the forefront of the revolution two years ago.
Tunisia already has a coalition government composed of Ennahda and two secular parties. But there are still figures linked to the former regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled in January 2011 for exile in Saudi Arabia.
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