The Tunisian Template

On the face of it, Tunisia appears the model of an old-style one party state. President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's ability to stockpile votes is undiminished and his ruling Rassemblement Constitutionelle Democratique (RCD) remains the overwhelmingly dominant force in Tunisian politics. Ben Ali took nearly 95% of the votes in the October 2004 presidential elections, his fourth successive victory; the RCD also won 152 of the 189 seats in the chamber of deputies. In the municipal elections held in May 2005, the extent of Ben Ali's grip on the country's' political institutions was revealed when the RCD took more than

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