Tunisian opposition forms strategy for next elections

06/11/2007

A number of opposition parties convened in Tunis to discuss the 2009 presidential and legislative elections.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 06/11/07

[Getty Images] Opposition parties hope to agree on a strategy to challenge President Ben Ali in the next elections

Tunisia's Ettajdid (Renewal) Movement hosted a seminar on October 28th in which a number of leftist parties, political figures and progressive organisations explored the possibility of forming a unified front in the 2009 presidential and legislative elections.

According to Ettajdid Secretary-General Ahmed Brahim, this is the first meeting of its kind to be allowed by Tunisian authorities in a public place. "This seminar is an unusual event for the democratic movement in Tunisia," he said. "We hope that this will be an indication that the page of harassments and restrictions will be turned once and for all."

The political establishment in Tunisia is anxiously awaiting a speech to be delivered by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on November 7th, the 20th anniversary of his ascension to the presidency. Many hope the president will usher in a new era in the country's political life, often criticised for its years-long stagnation. Tunisian authorities have defended the deadlock by citing security necessities since the rise of Islamic extremism in the early 1990s.

Brahim told Magharebia he hopes the democratic opposition will look past the differences that divided its ranks during the 2004 elections which President Ali won despite competition from three other candidates, including university professor and Ettajdid member Mohamed Ali Al-Helwani.

The ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally party, which controls the majority of parliamentary seats, launched a campaign months ago to help Ben Ali win a fifth term as president. Under the Tunisian Constitution, amended by popular referendum in 2002, the president has the right to renew his nomination more than one time as long as he is not over 75 years old.

There are eight opposition parties in Tunisia, and numerous others awaiting government recognition, the oldest of which is the Communist Workers Party. Tunisian law confines presidential nominations to parties with representatives in the parliament.

Ettajdid member Samir Taieb said the elections law needs "serious review", and demanded the government reduce the number of polling stations in accordance with United Nations standards. He called for the number to be reduced to 1,500-2,000 offices instead of the 13,000 in place today, as "opposition parties are unable to monitor what takes place inside them on Election Day."

Taieb also called for the creation of an independent, neutral commission to work alongside international election monitors, rather than relying on the supervision of the Interior Ministry.

Tarak Chamakh, a member of the unrecognised Leftist Socialist Party, said the democratic opposition is weak "regardless of the behaviour of the authorities," and urged seminar participants to seize the opportunity in the upcoming elections by taking decisive action.

Rachid Khechana, a member of the Progressive Democratic Party's political office conducted a review of media coverage of the last elections. "It is the most important thing in the democratic process," he said, noting that opposition candidates get only 3 minutes every 5 years to get their voices across to the people, "at a time when the campaigning of the ruling party runs year-round."

Journalist Noura Boursali assigned some blame to the opposition, which she said "is calling for pluralism, but we don't see any signs of it on the ground, especially in its own newspapers." During the seminar, Boursali questioned the seriousness of the opposition in demanding the rotation of power, "which is not practiced in the majority of parties."

Salah Zghidi, founding member of the Association for the Defence of Secularism in Tunisia, attacked opposition newspapers for failing to criticise religious extremism propagated by what he described as "the giant of oil television channels that destroys the brains of our youth", in reference to religious satellite channels funded by Saudi Arabia. Zeghidi stressed the need to confront religious intolerance and to spread the culture of democracy among the people.

At the end of the seminar, participants agreed on the need for co-operation and co-ordination between the "different currents and progressive movements in order to reach a formula that will ensure the realisation of goals during the next elections."