Tunisian election victors are democratic

Even before the announcement of Tunisia's election results the moderate Islamist Ennahda party initiated coalition talks on Tuesday. Despite the West's concerns about the likely victor there is no reason to assume Ennahda is any more undemocratic than its adversaries, the daily Kurier writes: "There is no reason to believe that highly secularised Tunisia, where women have a firm place in public life, will now be transformed into a morose theocracy. In any event, Ennahda's leader Ghannouchi adopted a moderate tone on the weekend and acknowledged the basic democratic values. As a democrat there is nothing left to do but respect the Tunisians' decision in their country's first free elections. ... Rotten, short-sighted compromises of the kind entered into with North Africa's autocrats for the sake of convenience must not be repeated."

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