The highly anticipated Nobel Peace Prize winner has finally been announced; the National Dialogue Quartet in Tunisia emerged winner “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.” Tunisia’s National Dialogue was established in October 2013. Developed by a quartet of civil society organizations, it quickly became an essential institution for resolving differences, without substituting for the work of the elected National Constituent Assembly (NCA).

Members of the Dialogue are high level leaders – comprising a trade confederation, the Tunisian General labour union, a human rights organization, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers – who are able to take decisions and implement them through their representatives in the NCA.  The Dialogue was quickly accepted by Tunisia’s political parties as a mechanism for exiting the political crisis hitting the country in 2013. The  group’s  first major achievements in its first few months of existence  were the swift ratification of the constitution, the formation of a caretaker government, and the election of an Electoral Commission for overseeing elections.

The National Dialogue Quartet “established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. It was thus instrumental in enabling Tunisia, in the space of a few years, to establish a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief,” the Nobel Committee said in a statement.

This year’s prize is suppose to serve as an encouragement to other countries to emulate Tunisia. “The Nobel Committee hopes that this year’s prize will contribute towards safeguarding democracy in Tunisia and be an inspiration to all those who seek to promote peace and democracy in the Middle East, North Africa and the rest of the world.”

Top in the running for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize were Germany’s Angela Merkel for her response to the influx of migrants into Europe, and Pope Francis, partly for his message on economic fairness.

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