Newsademic British English edition 260

Party got the most seats. Its leaders 
agreed with several other smaller 
parties to form a new government. 
One o f the new Assembly’s most 
important jobs was to write a new 
constitution for the country. These 
are the rules by which Tunisia was 
to be governed in future. Once the 
new constitution was approved new 
elections could be held.
Both Ennahda and the smaller 
parties, which agreed to work with it, 
are described as Islamist. Their sup­
porters believed that certain religious 
laws should be included in the new 
constitution. However, opposition 
groups wanted Tunisia to become 
a secular state. This means religion 
and the way in which a country is 
governed are kept separate.
The differences between the 
supporters of Ennahda and those 
who want Tunisia to be a secular 
state caused problems. There were 
frequent street demonstrations by 
both groups. Most were in Tunis,
the country’s capital city. Two po­
litical leaders were murdered, or 
assassinated. Both led smaller par­
ties, which did not want any reli­
gious laws in the constitution. No 
one was arrested for these crimes.
The quartet was formed in 2013. 
It is made up o f four organisations. 
In Tunisia they represent lawyers, 
labour (or workers), the bosses of 
both large and smaller companies, 
and human rights. At that time, 
many people worried that violence 
between the two opposing political 
groups would break out. The quartet 
acted as mediators between them.
Eventually, Ennahda agreed to 
hand power to an interim govern­
ment. All parties were then invited 
to choose the interim prime minister. 
They selected someone who was an 
independent, so he was not a member 
o f any political party. With the in­
terim prime minister in charge, a new 
constitution was written. It created a 
new parliament with 217 seats. Tuni­
sia’s first election under its new con­
stitution took place 12 months ago.
Few people in other countries 
knew about the quartet and what it 
had done. However, most said that 
the Peace Prize committee had made 
a good choice. In recent years peo­
ple have often questioned the com­
m ittee’s selection. Many wondered 
why the EU was awarded the prize 
in 2012. M ost thought it was wrong 
to give the award to Barack Obama, 
the president of the USA, in 2009. 
Then, he had only just been elected. 
M r Obama had talked about ending 
the wars that America was fighting 
in Iraq and Afghanistan, but had yet 
to do anything to stop them.
The Peace Prize award ceremony 
takes place in Oslo, the capital of 
Norway. It is always held on 10th 
December, the anniversary of Alfred 
N obel’s death. □

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