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New Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, left, of the Congress for the Republic Party, smiles on November 22 during the opening of the first session of the constituent elected assembly in Tunis.

msnbc.com news services report:

Fethi Belaid / AFP - Getty Images

Deputies stand before interim President Fouad Mbazaa's speech during the inaugural session of the elected constituent assembly on November 22.

Tunisia entered a new era of democracy on November 22 with the inaugural session of its democratically elected constituent assembly, 10 months after a popular uprising ended years of dictatorship. 

As the country that set off the wave of pro-democracy movements that engulfed the Arab region, Tunisia's efforts to build a democracy are being closely watched around the world.

The Islamist Ennahda Party won the most seats in elections on October 25 and partnered with the liberal Congress for the Republic and the left-of-center Ettakatol Party to form a ruling coalition and divide up the top posts between them.

The mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruitseller whose self-immolation sparked the revolution, attended the opening session of the assembly.

"I'm an optimist. I wish success for my country and I hope that the parties will work together and avoid problems," Manoubia Bouazizi told Reuters last month. "That's my message to them."

"I hope they are worthy of the loss that I suffered."

Fethi Belaid / AFP - Getty Images

Manoubia Bouazizi, left, the mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruitseller whose self-immolation sparked the revolution that ousted a dictator and ignited the Arab Spring, attends the opening of the first session of the constituent elected assembly in Tunis.

Related content:

• New Tunisian leaders announce government plan
• Tunisia martyr's mother: honor my son's sacrifice
• Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruit vendor whose death may have changed the Arab world
• Slideshow: Tunisia unrest, January 2011

AFP - Getty Images

A handout picture released by the Tunisian Presidency shows President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, second left, visiting patient Mohamed Bouazizi at the Ben Arous hospital near Tunis on Dec. 28. Bouazizi died in hospital on Jan. 4 and Ben Ali fled the country on Jan. 14.

Fred Dufour / AFP - Getty Images

Mohamed Bouazizi's cousin, Walid Bouazizi, prays on his cousin's grave in Sidi Bouzid on Jan. 20.

Fred Dufour / AFP - Getty Images

Basma Bouazizi, sister of Mohamed Bouazizi, poses in her home in Sidi Bouzid on Jan. 20.

Salah Habibi / AP

Protesters demonstrate beneath a poster of Mohamed Bouazizi near the prime minister's office in Tunis on Jan. 28.

It began with a minor dispute between a street vendor and a municipal inspector in the provincial Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid. Six weeks on, the repercussions continue to resonate around the Arab world.

The man who inspired the people of Tunisia to rise up against their government was Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26 year old fruit vendor who set himself on fire in protest at his treatment by the local authorities. President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali visited Bouazizi in hospital in a vain attempt to stem the criticism of his regime, as shown in the first photograph above. But within ten days of Bouazizi's death, Ben Ali was forced to flee the country.

Kareem Fahim of the New York Times wrote a detailed account of Bouazizi's life and death, and Kim Sengupta of the Independent interviewed his grieving mother. 'The government drove him to do what he did; they never gave him a chance. We are poor and they thought we had no power,' she said. 'My son is lost, but look what is happening, how many people are now getting involved.'