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Tunisia’s first postrevolution election is the point of departure for a societal process that will determine whether Islamist governments are able to rule within a pluralist political system. The jury is out.

Tunisia bears watching. It has a well-educated, largely urban and homogeneous population, absent feuding tribes and sectarian fault lines. It has a secular, if autocratic, tradition. The army was determinant in throwing out Zine El Abidine Ben Ali...