Judging by the long queues at the polling stations, the elections for Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly on October 23 were an enormous success. People of all ages and walks of life, most voting for the first time in free, transparent and competitive elections, came en masse, steeped in emotion and with a new sense of dignity. Many patiently endured hours of waiting to experience democracy. Two days after this historic moment, Tunisian streets are animated by debates over how to interpret the results. The Constituent Assembly is tasked with writing a new constitution, drafting laws necessary for the transitional period and appointing a new interim government. A daunting challenge will be to reach agreement on how to incorporate into the state’s fundamental legal document the uprising’s ethos, with its aspirations for justice, dignity and freedom. In elaborating the new constitution, the assembly should uphold international norms of human rights and create
