GAMMARTH, Tunisia — Tunisia's post-revolution experience has proven that Islam and democracy are not contradictory terms, and the country's democratic transition could serve as a model for other Arab Spring countries, according to the leader of the ruling Islamist party.
Rached Ghannouchi, president of the Ennahda movement, said Friday the October 2011 National Constituent Assembly elections demonstrated that Islamists were the most popular choice among the population. Even so, the party is working with others in the government to establish a model that will prevent the retreat to dictatorship, he said. The troika government, made up of what he called moderate secularist and moderate Islamist wings, has agreed on a number of principles and actions.