There was little revolutionary rhetoric, no paeans to Iran and no veneration of Sharia law during five days of debate at the party’s convention.
“This was a congress aimed at building a somewhat artificial unity,” political analyst Ahmed Manai said. “They are remaining vague to preserve unity.”
Ennahda—meaning Renaissance—came to power in elections last fall, replacing the autocratic regime of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ben Ali’s government was the first to be toppled in the Arab Spring, which Iran insists was inspired by Iran’s 1979 revolution. But there was no reflection of Iran’s revolution in the party convention.
Ennahda adopted a final declaration saying the party will remain a “moderate” and “centrist” force.
Ennahda remained vague, however, on how it will carry out its self-declared mission in a country where the opposition fears the rise of Islamism could threaten decades of secular values.
In June, riots triggered by an art exhibit deemed offensive to Islam spread across parts of Tunis, leaving one person dead and more than 100 injured.
In May, a Tunisian television station boss was fined a small sum in a high-profile trial after being convicted of “broadcasting a film that disturbs public order and threatens proper morals.” Nabil Karaoui’s crime was to allow his station to broadcast the animated film “Persepolis,” produced by Franco-Iranian Marjane Satrapi. The scene that caused riots was a few seconds in which a cartoon Satrapi is shown talking to a large bearded figure of God.
More recently, a young Tunisian was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after he posted caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad on Face-book.
Ennhada’s convention left many questions unanswered, including a clear vision for the future of the constitution, although the party has already said Sharia law would not be inscribed in the new charter.
Ennahda won Tunisia’s first post-uprising poll, in October, taking 41 percent of the seats in the National Constituent Assembly. The assembly is an interim body tasked with drafting a new constitution and preparing fresh elections due in March 2013.
Ennahda members make up around half of the cabinet. The other portfolios are shared between by two center-left parties.
Rached Ghannouchi, a former radical preacher turned moderate, was re-elected as head of Ennahda.
Interior Minister Ali Larayedh explained the party’s stance. “Ennahda wants a parliamentary regime because it believes it is the best formula to consecrate democracy,” he said. “We will agree with our partners on a regime that achieves the objectives of the revolution and will be accepted by all.”