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    November 22, 2011

Tunisia's New Assembly Holds Historic 1st Session

   VOA News
   Outgoing interim president Fouad Mebazza (front) speaks during the
   opening session of Tunisia's constitutional assembly in Tunis November
   22, 2011
   Photo: REUTERS
   Outgoing interim president Fouad Mebazza (front) speaks during the
   opening session of Tunisia's constitutional assembly in Tunis November
   22, 2011

   Tunisia's democratically elected constitutional assembly held its
   opening session Tuesday, 10 months after a popular revolt ended years
   of dictatorship and sparked similar uprisings across the Arab world.
   Lawmakers tasked with drafting a new constitution sang the national
   anthem and were joined by senior officials in the incoming coalition
   government and ministers in the outgoing Cabinet.
   The 217-member assembly - the first body elected in the aftermath of
   the Arab Spring - is expected to confirm a deal under which the
   moderate Islamist Ennahda party and Tunisia's two other main political
   groups split the country's top three jobs.
   The agreement, announced Monday, awards the post of prime minister to
   Hamadi Jebali of Ennahda, which received the most votes in last month's
   parliamentary elections.
   The head of the center-left Congress for the Republic party, Moncef
   Marzouki, will become the new president. Mustafa Ben Jafaar of the
   Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties - or Ettakatol - will be
   assembly speaker.

   IFRAME:
   [1]http://www.dipity.com/voaweb/Mideast-Unrest-2011/?mode=embed&ct= Jan
   19, 2011&z=1mon#tl

   [2]Mideast Unrest 2011 on Dipity.

   About 1,000 protesters, including relatives of people killed in the
   revolt, gathered outside the assembly building on the outskirts of the
   capital, Tunis. The demonstrators are from dozens of different
   organizations, many representing women calling for their rights to be
   guaranteed under the new constitution.
   Among the protesters was the mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young
   vegetable seller who immolated himself last December in an act of
   protest that triggered the revolution.
   Ennahda took 90 of 217 assembly seats in last month's polls - three
   times the number won by its nearest rival. Its leader, Rachid
   Ghannouchi, said his party would work to form a new government in
   "friendliness" and "brotherhood."
   The secular Congress for the Republic placed second with 30 seats,
   while Ettakatol came in third with 21 seats.
   Tunisia's landmark elections were widely considered free and fair. The
   vote came nine months after protesters ousted longtime president Zine
   el Abidine Ben Ali.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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