Authors: Rebecca Fenton
Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images(TUNIS, Tunisia) -- History was made Sunday when millions of Tunisians turned up to cast their votes in Tunisia’s first truly free election since its independence in 1956.
In a large step toward democracy, Tunisians voted for an assembly to draft a new constitution.
The election comes 10 months after the vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi, anguished by poverty and repressed by the government, publicly ignited himself in flames, instigating the widespread outcry which spiraled into the Arab Spring mass protests.
The protests forced President Zine al-Abidine to flee Tunisia, and inspired uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio