Two stories share the front pages of the Tunisian papers this morning: the death of a dictator, and the imminent birth of a democracy. And, in a front-page leader, La Presse explores how Tunisia's political transition could come to be a "source of inspiration and encouragement for the Libyan people" in the post-Gaddafi era.
"From now on, cooperation between the two countries will not only be economic but also, above all, political," it writes. "Two peoples who have suffered for years under decades of oppression are now free. They will both win by holding hands and retaining this newly-found freedom."
Gaddafi's death is not a cause for only Libyans to rejoice, the paper remarks. "Tunisia is also relieved because for decades it suffered as well from this disturbed dictator who plotted against the stability of our country … " After the jasmine revolution, La Presse reminds its readers, "everyone knew that his dearest desire was to see our country sink into anarchy and chaos."
Now that Gaddafi has gone, however, Le Quotidien has some concrete advice for the Libyan NTC as it tries to put a stop to the chaos that has spread on its own soil. In recent months, the paper says, "Libya has become a vast and unregulated weapons store which could prove a threat to security."
"In order to curb this phenomenon, a regular army and police force should be re-established," it writes, adding: "This is vital for the country and important for its neighbours."
It is Libya, according to the historian Alaya Allani, which will be the most influenced by the results of Sunday's historic elections. "Libyans will definitely use the Tunisian experience to build their new modern and democratic state," she writes, adding that the vote will also be observed carefully across the region, especially among those in countries such as Syria and Yemen, where there is a "blatant democratic deficit", comments Allani in La Presse. If the elections are a success, she concludes, "we will be able to put to bed the Israeli myth that deems Israel to be the only democratic country in the region."
Closer to home, the logistics of the elections are raked over in exhaustive detail. Full-page ads from the ISIE electoral commission give a step-by-step guide to voting, from how to mark the cross next to the chosen party to how to drop the ballot slip into the ballot box.
With the campaign ending officially at midnight tonight, the pressure is on to get as many voters out as possible. Le Temps carries a detailed and stunningly sycophantic report on yesterday's speech by the current prime minister Béji Caïd Essebsi, in which he urged Tunisians to vote "without fear" and assured the electorate that his authority would end once the new government was established. In a news report, the paper concludes that Essebsi's words were "a lesson in life, citizenship, patriotism and political science." It praises his "crystal-clear perceptiveness" and "biting wit".
