Meeting of the Tunisian government coalition committee, 6th May 2016

 Central to the success of the Tunisian transition has been the ability of political parties to work past their ideological differences and find sufficient consensus on shared challenges. The ability to prioritise dialogue, compromise and consensus over confrontation was repeatedly displayed by political leaders at key points in the transition, most notably in early 2014 with finalisation of the new constitution and decision of the Troika government to step down from power.Between 2012-2014, Forward Thinking facilitated an internal dialogue process within the country, which sought to encourage these positive trends by providing a space for senior figures from across the political spectrum to come together and engage in dialogue away from the pressure of the media or public attention. This process assisted in the "normalisation" of relations between parties and tried to help key individuals in the efforts to develop a Tunisian model for managing the tensions of transition.Following the elections of 2014, we have been encouraged to see that Tunisia's political class commitment to these core values has not wavered, but has instead found new form in the country's burgeoning democratic institutions and in the four party coalition government of Habib Essid. The tensions of coalition government can be considerable, even for parties in long-established democracies, and the manner in which Tunisia's political leaders have sought to respond to these challenges has been deeply impressive. The establishment of a coalition co-ordination committee - comprised of senior members of the four parties - represents an important step in trying to reconcile the differences between the parties' platforms to form a coherent programme for government.