Tunisians Lose Faith In Ennahda, Revolution
Missteps have left Ennahda as unpopular in Tunisia as the Muslim Brotherhood is in Egypt.
The Sept. 28 agreement by Tunisia’s Islamist-led government to resign and allow the formation of an independent cabinet to oversee new elections reflects a sharp drop in popular support since the 2011 revolution.
According to new polling data made available to Al-Monitor, the moderate Islamist party Ennahda has the confidence of only 28% of Tunisians — the same meager support that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood had prior to this summer’s coup.
The poll, conducted Aug. 4-31 by Zogby Research Services among 3,031 Tunisians and due to be released publicly next week, also showed that two-thirds of Tunisians believe their country is moving in the wrong direction nearly three years after Tunisia became the first Arab state to overturn an autocratic regime through popular protests. Less than a third of those polled said the Ennahda-led government in power for the past two years had been effective in increasing employment, reducing the cost of living or protecting the civil and personal rights of the Tunisian people.
“I was struck by the degree to which Ennahda had exhausted support from every quarter but their own support base,” Jim Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute and managing director of Zogby Research Services, told Al-Monitor.
