May 24, 2011, 5:49 p.m.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="189" caption="The Municipality building in Tunis. Rola Abdul-Latif/IFES."][/caption]
Tunisia, the country that sparked the pro-democracy revolts across the Middle East and North Africa, is currently scheduled to hold elections for Constituent Assembly in July. IFES conducted a nationwide survey in late March and early April to gain insight into the citizenry’s expectations for these elections, the readiness of the electorate, and the general confidence in the elections process.
The data provides powerful indicators of where Tunisians stand before the election. It reveals that while optimism is the predominant emotion, challenges lie ahead. Among the main findings are:
IFES contracted Emrhod International, a Tunis-based research organization, to implement the survey. The sample size (1,506 respondents) was designed to represent Tunisia’s adult population, so it was stratified geographically by the 24 governorates of Tunisia. The margin of error is ± 2.53.