1IKE many Mediterranean peoples, Tuni-isians are said to be prone to excesses of joy and despair. So it was scarcely surprising that the stronger-than-expected performance of Islamists in the country's first-ever open and fair election, and the first free exercise of political rights thanks to the Arab spring, prompted an emotional response. Fans of Nahda (Renaissance), the long banned and persecuted Islamist party that has secured at least 41% of seats in the constitutional assembly, cheered and tooted as results were announced. But many liberal Tunisians mourned the end of an era. This most secular of Arab states, they sighed, had forsaken its cherished traditions of boozy beach-going tolerance.
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