IT is in the fitness of things that the country where the Arab Spring first blossomed should attempt to take the latter to its logical conclusion. Even though incumbent president Moncef Marzouki had yet to concede defeat to Beji Caid Essebsi at the time of writing, the victory of a presidential candidate belonging to a secular-leaning party within months of a parliamentary election shows Tunisia’s commendable progress towards a democratic dispensation.

The first indication of Tunisia’s opinion swing came in October’s parliamentary election when the Islamist Ennahda Party lost to Nidaa Tounes.

In the 2011 election, Ennahda had won and formed government, followed by amendments to the constitution. Nidaa Tounes’s parliamentary victory and the success of Mr Essebsi underline a democratic transition of power — something that no other Arab country — Iraq’s is a complicated case — witnessed.

Also read: Tunisia’s Islamists down but not out after election defeat

In fact, there has been a deplorable relapse into authoritarianism and anarchy. Egypt showed some promise when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, followed by a fair election that brought Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood to power.

His overthrow by then army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has landed Egypt back into a dictatorship that is seen as worse than that of Hosni Mubarak.

Great tragedies occurred in Syria and Libya where the Arab Spring gave way to a multilateral civil war in which fundamentalist militias and several Al Qaeda offshoots have been waging savage battles for aims that have nothing to do with what the Arab Spring was originally meant to achieve.

The ultimate sufferers are the people, especially in Syria, where more than 200,000 civilians have been killed and millions displaced. The most disturbing element has been the rise of the so-called Islamic State whose stunning military victories seem to threaten the Middle East’s century-old borders.

Observers had doubted whether Ennahda would give up power easily, though there is no doubt one reason for Ennahda’s cautious governance was the lesson it must have learnt from the way the Muslim Brotherhood lost power in Egypt. Nevertheless, the ease with which the transition has taken place holds out hope.

Published in Dawn December 23th , 2014