Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

October, something happened to discourage the youth from participating in the country’s
current democratization process. Ultimately, the lack of the youths’ interest in the process
can be explained by political parties’ failure to address seriously their issues and the
continuation of societal perceptions that view youth as inexperienced and incapable of
political leadership positions. 27 In lieu of these perceptions youth have continued to fight
for freedom, justice, and dignity by finding ways, both constructive and destructive, to
channel their demands.
The National Constituent Assembly Election
For better or for worse the NCA election was the product of Tunisia’s revolution. After
about a month of protesting, followed by months of debate under the transitional
government, the youths’ initial demand for change would manifest itself in an election
that would decide who would be responsible for writing a new constitution. Though
appearing far from creating an immediate democratic impact, the election signaled the
end to a life under dictatorship. It seemed as though many were excited for their new
freedom and a chance to build a new society. If this were the case, however, one would
imagine that more people would have registered to vote.
The low youth turnout in the registration process is a significant indicator of the
youth’s dissatisfaction with the trajectory of the transition. It demonstrates that sometime
between the euphoria of the ouster of Ben Ali and the first democratic election that they
lost faith in the democratic process. Initially following the end of the old regime, youth
were interested in democracy and viewed it as the appropriate formation of government
for Tunisia. In March 2011, some two months after the youth made their stand, the
National Democratic Institute (NDI) organized a focus group consisting of pre-screened
men and women between the of ages 25-35, of different levels of education and from all
of the different regions in the country. During their meetings, the participants confirmed
27 It also deserves mention that some youth failed to register to vote because of logistical
problems. Some reported not having the proper identification documents or great distances
between where they lived/worked and their polling station. For the purposes of this paper, there
will not be a formal discussion of these factors that were often outside of the voters’ control, and
instead I will focus on those that were in control of the voters themselves.
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