TUNISIA-ELECTIONS/EXPECTATIONS Passions run high in Sidi Bouzid ahead of Tunisia elections

Record ID: 335641

  • Title: TUNISIA-ELECTIONS/EXPECTATIONS Passions run high in Sidi Bouzid ahead of Tunisia elections
  • Date: 28th September 2014
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF WEBSITE DEVELOPED BY ATIDE TO HELP CITIZENS VOTE
  • Embargoed: 13th October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6G9PQL5O89MC6X6AOTO1DOSWO
  • Story Text: In the city of Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Tunisian revolution, residents are ambivalent about any positive change that can be achieved by the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.
    Since its 2011 uprising, Tunisia has advanced towards full democracy and is seen as a model for the region. Tunisia is to hold its first full parliamentary elections on October 26 after adopting a new constitution this year.
    Presidential elections will then be held on November 23. The president makes senior military and foreign policy appointments as well as nominating the prime minister.
    In Sidi Bouzid, where weeds grow in the dust that covers the streets, Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire, igniting weeks of demonstrations that spread across the country and unseated Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years of repressive rule.
    In the centre of the country, Sidi Bouzid is a world apart from the expensive coastal resorts that are home to Tunisia's elite, and anger had been building there for years before Bouzizi's self-immolation.
    Since the 2011 revolution, Tunisia's political transition has been turbulent.
    Now, residents are divided over whether to take part in the upcoming poll at all.
    "If someone did not register for elections and doesn't vote then he is not patriotic. I will never relinquish my duty, never! And I will not say that someone came to rule my country from nothing. No, I will stand tall," said Bechir Neili.
    Another resident, Jezia Ouled Ahmed, failed to see what her vote could achieve.
    "We have been hearing about elections, elections and elections for the past three or four years. Anyone would become despondent. How come we vote once, twice, then again and again? We should look after our homes, our children, our jobs and so many other matters. Elections have their own people to see to it," she said.
    "I don't have any confidence in politicians. No confidence. If they are worthy of our confidence then they wouldn't have left our country in this situation since the first year [since the revolution]," she added.
    Earlier this month, Tunisia's main Islamist party, Ennahda, said it would not contest the presidential election, in the interest of ensuring an inclusive government for all Tunisians.
    Ennahda is one of the two front-runners to win next month's parliamentary election and provide the next prime minister, but opposition groups say its dominance of the last government almost derailed Tunisia's transition to democracy.
    In Sidi Bouzid, residents said there were just too many candidates standing.
    "Everyone who has nothing better to do stands in the presidential elections. There is a special procedure, a precise law. The number of candidates must be limited. How could someone choose from over 70 candidates? It's quite hard," said Hamdi Mnaour.
    Mounira Bouaziz works for ATIDE - a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that advocates transparency in elections. She said the residents of Sidi Bouzid all had similar complaints when it came to the government.
    "There are no jobs, no roads, no infrastructure and - that's not what I think personally, but they are the complaints of people around here. When we - the ATIDE association - are in the field to encourage people to vote these were the only opinions of citizens," she said.
    She said her organisation had created a website to help simplify the voting process.
    "The Tunisian citizen does not understand at all and does not know what to choose. We tried to make voting easier and enable their voices to be heard," she said.
    Ennahda won the first free election after the overthrow of autocratic president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, but was accused by the opposition of seeking to entrench itself in power, disregarding the interests of a large secular urban population and being lenient toward radical Islamists.
    When two secular opposition leaders were assassinated by Islamist militants last year, the only stable, democratic government to emerge from any of the Arab Spring revolutions appeared to be in jeopardy, until Ennahda stepped down in favor of a non-partisan interim government.
    With a new, broad-based constitution now agreed and in force, the October 26 parliamentary election should complete Tunisia's transition to full democracy.

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