Tunisians begin polling in first free elections

TUNISIANS began voting yesterday in their first truly free election, the culmination of a popular uprising that ended decades of authoritarian rule and set off similar rebellions across the Middle East.

Voters — women with headscarves and without, former political prisoners, young people whose Facebook posts helped fuel the revolution — are electing members of an assembly that will appoint a new government and then write a new constitution. They’re definitively turning the page on the 23-year presidency of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown by a mont-long uprising on January 14 stirred by anger at unemployment, corruption and repression.

The party expected to come out on top, Ennahda, is a moderate Islamic party whose victory, especially in a comparatively secular society like Tunisia, could have wide implications for similar religious parties in the region. The unexpected revolution in this quiet Mediterranean country — cherished by European tourists for its sandy beaches and desert oases — set off a series of similar uprisings against entrenched leaders, an event now being called the Arab Spring.