Three years ago, a 26-year-old fruit vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid after being shaken down and humiliated by corrupt local officials, setting off an outpouring of anger across the Arab world against tyrannical regimes. But what was hailed as the Arab Spring soon disintegrated into dismal and violent sequels, most notably in Libya, Egypt and Syria.
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Tunisia, too, had its dark days: an Islamist government elected in 2011 proved divisive and ineffective; the assassination of two prominent opposition politicians further undermined support for the government, leading to a deepening political and economic crisis, arguments over the role of Islam in government and the threat of terrorist violence. Yet now it is Tunisia, once again, that could show the way to get the transitions to democracy back on track.
Last week, Tunisia's ruling Islamists reached an agreement with opposition parties to put a caretaker administration in charge until new elections can be held. The current minister of industry, Mehdi Jomaa, a mechanical engineer with a background in the private sector, was named prime minister and charged with forming a technocratic government. The deal followed several weeks of negotiations brokered by labor leaders.
As Carlotta Gall described in The Times this week, two leading politicians from different political poles — former prime minister Beji Caid Essebsi and Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of the ruling Islamist party, Ennahda — came to recognize that only a broad political compromise could halt the country's downward spiral and entered into dialogue.
The deal could still unravel. Extremist protests were reported in Tunis and Sidi Bouzid on the anniversary of Mr. Bouazizi's self-immolation. A constituent assembly is still working on a new Constitution; Mr. Jomaa must still select a Cabinet; and a date has to be set for new elections, which would be at least six months away. But Tunisia — the smallest of the North African countries, with a population eight times smaller than Egypt's — has had advantages from the outset over other Arab states caught up in political tumult. It avoided excessive political score-settling against the former elite, and it kept its military under civilian control.
Now, three years after it inspired the citizens of other Arab nations to seek a better deal from their leaders, Tunisians can show that political compromise is possible. For the West, that's something well worth supporting.
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