Tunisian women demonstrate for rights after Ennahdha's election win

Several hundreds women demonstrated in the Tunisian capital Tunis, calling for the preservation of their rights in the constitution due to be drafted by the newly elected Constituent Assembly, the official TAP press agency TAP reported Wednesday. The rally followed the win by the country's main Islamist party Ennahdha at the elections held on October 23. With 90 seats, Ennahdha garnered 41.5 percent of the votes in the country's first free election since independence. The demonstrators, who claimed to be independent, held posters calling for the advent of a constitution respectful of women's rights. A delegation of them was received by the interim prime minister Beji Caid Essebsi. In a statement following the elections, Ennahdha's Chairman Rached Ghannouchi vowed to uphold women's rights and the country's 1956 Code of Personal Status. However, a number of Tunisian women and secularists were also calling for increased vigilance in the wake of Ennahdha's victory. Two academicians were recently verbally aggressed in their respective universities by Salafist students for their dress code. The aggression prompted a strike and a statement by the higher education union condemning such attacks.