Tunisians go to the polls still in the shadow of the old regime

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hope for the first elections in the spring is mixed with Arab frustration with corruption and police brutality continues

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Tunisia votes Sunday in their first free elections, the first vote of the Arab spring. However, the mood of optimism is tempered by a deep malaise that, nine months after the revolution that overthrew the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country still dominated by the remains of the old corrupt and brutal.

vote is the choice of an assembly with a specific mission: developing a new constitution before the parliamentary elections scheduled for a period of 12 months. The Islamist party An-Nahda, which was banned and brutally repressed by the regime of Ben Ali, is supposed to have the highest number of votes, and says he will defend democracy and women's rights. But the complex system of proportional representation means that no matter how the votes are cast, neither party will have a majority or be able to master.

the street Tunisian very proud that their uprising launched the Arab spring, warned that the most pressing problem was the safety of their "unfinished revolution".

lawyers complain that police brutality and torture in the country is still small North African, under Ben Ali was known to have the secret police the most widespread in the region. Human rights activists say that followers of Ben Ali and former party supporters still dominate a crooked justice system that corruption has worsened and that the notorious officials of the former regime have been promoted since the revolution. Some describe a climate of impunity, symbolized by the flight of Ben Ali in Saudi Arabia, where you can avoid dealing with traces of their crimes. Meanwhile, Tunisia, its influence continues to permeate the bureaucracy and government operations.

"We are overwhelmed with cases of human rights violations. You will not believe it was a revolution, "said Triki Imène, a human rights activist. "Torture is a way of doing things, is systematic. They have not changed their practices at all, "he said, warning of" countless "cases in police stations and prisons.

It describes: "the systematic and routine" arrests of bloggers and activists on false accusations, often "burn police stations," the detention of people with the label "Salafi" who were outside the country at the time of the alleged crimes were committed, and arrests of children

Triki describes a case of being a thief was transferred to the prison hospital with a stomach complaint. While in the hospital, he said, was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted in front of doctors, nurses and other patients. Triki said she found him with his legs chained to the bed and serious injuries to the genitals and in the same hospital with another inmate was found lying in the emergency room, his body festering with worms and covered with excrement. There, he says, been there for a month.

Ahmed Rahmouni, President of the Association of Tunisian Judges describes a rotten justice system - still in place - in which judges have been used by Ben Ali as an "instrument of repression" to end with civil society. Although some judges were independent, he said, the majority system remained in bondage dominated by politicians and those who served Ben Ali. These judges are still trying cases. "Senior judges in the country are corrupt, inefficient and an instrument of the dictatorship. We must get rid of them, and restore confidence in the judiciary," he said.

Bensedrine, a human rights activist and head of the radio station Kalima, has returned from exile, but has not yet been issued with a license for the radio station, which broadcasts on-line. She said: "The revolution cut off the head, but the body still there dictatorships are not only self-confidence - are also on the control of security forces, culture, health, universities, hospitals ... means dismantling the machine consists of three elements. 'S secret police, the old guard of the ruling party and corrupt businessmen, working with the system of these three are still powerful, still have long arms. "

After nine months of interim government discredited and weak with the face of aging in the recent past of Tunisia, Tunisians insist that the old guard must be eradicated from the bureaucracy and daily life, and this should be accompanied by a rapid response to major problems in the country, unemployment, a central cause of the revolution. Officially 19%, unemployment has skyrocketed since January, but most believe that the real figures are much higher. The unemployment rate

• female graduates are more than 40%. Within the poorest countries, the figures are double the national rate.
• Lina Ben Mhenni
• , a blogger who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year, warned that Tunisia was held by the former regime and "after several weeks of revolutionary euphoria" the country, again, the risk of becoming a police state with the apparatus of the regime remains in place. Disappointed by the continued presence of the old regime, said he would not vote.

In purely political ruling RCD party of Ben Ali was dissolved and its representatives are prohibited from standing for election. However, in a breathtaking scenery policies of over 110 new parties and independent candidates' scores, several small parties, new combined marginal supporters of the former RCD. Its goal is to win more than a dozen seats between them.

In the offices of a new party, Al-Watan, the nation or country, its leader Mohamed Jegham said there was a current which prevails in Tunisia since the revolution "and can not go against the current. " Jegham But, once the Minister of Interior and Defence Minister Ben Ali said he was proud of what he calls the good infrastructure left by the time Ben Ali and said the country "has need people who know the terrain. " It was critical to the elimination of regional governors linked to the regime.

Minister

former police official, said. "The police must return to serve the country, the nation, not only serving the president or ministers All agents can make any changes -. Some have disappeared, some are more reluctant - longer." He said that corruption must be stopped, but would not be easy. "We need new laws and those who are respected."

Lakrimi Sidon, Tunisian Union lawyers said. "We are in a transition period, but the pace is very, very slow institutional change must occur quickly to clean the system ... popular discontent will become infected if they robbed and killed and tortured the n ' was not a fair and transparent manner ... You can not create the future use of the tools of the past. "
Journalists

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