Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.
Around this time two years ago
I predicted counterrevolutions against Islamist rule in Egypt and Tunisia. The Muslim Brotherhood fell hard and fast in Egypt. In Tunisia it’s been more of a slow drawn out fight.
But now the Arab Spring wellspring has fallen.
A few days ago the New York Times was predicting that the Islamist Ennahda party would rebound and portraying them as the victims.
So much for that.
Tunisia’s main secular opposition party is claiming victory in the country’s historic election for a new 217-member parliament.
The Nidaa Tounes party says a preliminary ballot count shows it has won close to 80 seats, more than any other party.
The ruling Ennahda party conceded defeat on Monday, saying it will accept the result. Former Primer Minister Ali Larayedh urged party followers to look toward the next elections.
Ennahda isn’t as done as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, it could still climb back, but this is a severe blow to the political Islamists and their Western backers who hoped to propel them to power through elections.
Not long ago Tunisia was still being cited as a success story. Now the Islamists have lost there too.
Nidaa Tounes is not just any party, it combines members of the old overthrown pre-Arab Spring regime with assorted leftists and unions, the latter’s protests had effectively crippled Islamist rule earlier.
This is a comeback for the establishment and a win for a more secular society.
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