TUNISIA: President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali launches his campaign for upcoming elections

Record ID: 345823

  • Title: TUNISIA: President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali launches his campaign for upcoming elections
  • Date: 14th October 2009
  • Summary: TUNIS, TUNISIA (OCTOBER 11, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 7TH NOVEMBER SQUARE / ELECTION POSTERS CLOSE OF POSTER OF UNIONIST DEMOCRATIC UNION (UDU) PARTY CANDIDATE, AHMED INOUBLI CLOSE OF POSTER OF PEOPLE'S UNITY PARTY CANDIDATE (PUP), MOHAMMAD BOUCHIHA CLOSE OF POSTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC RALLY (RCD) CANDIDATE (AND CURRENT PRESIDENT), ZINE EL ABIDINE BEN ALI TUNISIAN PRESIDENT ZINE EL-ABIDINE BEN ALI AT A RALLY LAUNCHING THE 2009 PRESIDENTIAL AND LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN. VARIOUS OF CROWDS CHEERING AND CLAPPING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN PRESIDENT AND CANDIDATE FOR 2009 ELECTIONS, ZINE EL-ABIDINE BEN ALI SAYING "With the help and Grace of God, we launch the presidential and legislative electoral campaign renewing the pledge we made to our people when we saved the country on November 7, 1987" VARIOUS OF CROWDS CHEERING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN PRESIDENT AND CANDIDATE FOR 2009 ELECTIONS, ZINE EL-ABIDINE BEN ALI SAYING "Today we present the people with a new programme which we are calling 'Together We Meet Challenges', it is a programme for the coming five years but at the same time, it will lay the ground for the stages which follow, those that extend till the end of the next decade and years after that" 7TH OF NOVEMBER SQUARE / ELECTION POSTERS / TUNISIAN FLAGS CLOSE OF TUNISIAN FLAGS VARIOUS OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN COACH OF PEOPLE'S UNITY PARTY CANDIDATE (PUP), MOHAMMED BOUCHIHA VARIOUS OF BOUCHIHA SHAKING HANDS WITH PEOPLE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PEOPLE'S UNITY PARTY CANDIDATE (PUP), MOHAMMED BOUCHIHA SAYING "All our activists, male and female, are full of enthusiasm. They enter the elections with a victorious spirit, without false or unrealistic dreams but determined to achieve a result in this very important race, not just to fulfil our dream but for the sake of civil work and duties that lie ahead" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PEOPLE'S UNITY PARTY MEMBER, SAMIRA CHAWACHI SAYING "We, here at the People's Unity Party, believe that the principle of participation in elections is important for boosting the democratic process so that the citizen is used to the idea of different opinions and different programs competing transparently. Our participation in the presidential and legislative elections starts from our belief of the necessity of serious and responsible work in support of democracy" CANDIDATE FOR THE MOVEMENT FOR RENEWAL, AHMED BRAHIM ENTERING HIS PARTY OFFICE / SHAKING HANDS WITH COLLEAGUES ELECTION POSTER OF BRAHIM HANGING ON HIS OFFICE WALL VARIOUS OF BRAHIM WORKING IN HIS OFFICE
  • Embargoed: 29th October 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1F5B9B4QIJVYP9QP4X790S7M8
  • Story Text: Dressed in bright red and carrying the red Tunisian flag, supporters of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali turned out in their thousands at the launch of his election rally for the upcoming presidential and Legislative elections, scheduled to take place on october 25th. The President with his party, The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), will be leading a list of four main candidates running for the presidential seat.
    Ahmed Inoubli, from the Unionist Democratic Union party (UDU), Mohammad Bouchiha from the the People's Unity Party, and the Movement For Renewal's Ahmed Bahrim make up the three other opposition candidates competing for the presidency.
    Ben Ali's colourful rally came with promises for the future.
    "With the help and Grace of God, we launch the presidential and legislative electoral campaign renewing the pledge we made to our people when we saved the country on November 7, 1987" said the Tunisian president and election candidate.
    As part of his election campaign, Tunisia's veteran president announced a new programme, entitled "Together we meet challenges", which has 24 initiatives touching on political, economical, social and cultural issues.
    "Today we present the people with a new programme which we are calling 'Together we meet challenges,' it is a programme for the coming five years but at the same time, it will lay the ground for the stages which follow, those that extend till the end of the next decade and years after that," Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali said.
    Ben Ali also gave a guarantee that the 25th of October elections will be transparent and will see participation from opposition parties and candidates.
    These measures are all designed to give Tunisia the opportunity to catch up with the developed world, Ben Ali added.
    Ben Ali, 71, is widely credited with ensuring political stability and strong economic growth in the country of 10 million but critics accuse him of running roughshod over human rights and democratic values.
    He has been long urged by supporters to seek a new term, has run for election successfully on four previous occasions, two of them unopposed. He won 94.4 percent of the vote in the last election in 2004.
    Despite that, the opposition parties running the presidential race were also out campaigning yesterday in high spirits.
    People's Unity Party (PUP) candidate Mohammed Bouchiha was the second candidate to hit the campaign trail. His supporters gathered around him on Palestine Street in Tunis before his visit a number of neighbourhoods in Tunis. He concluded the day by holding an election rally in Kasafa.
    "All our activists, male and female, are full of enthusiasm. They enter the elections with a victorious spirit, without false or unrealistic dreams but determined to achieve a result in this very important race, not just to fulfil our dream but for the sake of civil work and duties that lie ahead" he said.
    "We, here at the People's Unity Party, believe that the principle of participation in elections is important for boosting the democratic process so that the citizen is used to the idea of different opinions and different programs competing transparently. Our participation in the presidential and legislative elections starts from our belief of the necessity of serious and responsible work in support of democracy" added PUP member Samira Chawachi.
    This is the second time Bouchiha takes part in presidential elections. He got less than 4 percent of the vote when he ran in 2004.
    Ahmed Brahim from the Movement for Renewal is yet to launch his campaign. His past experience in elections where he encountered difficulties from the media and the authorities have made him and his team wary of possible challenges that lie ahead, he says.
    In the last election, his party's 26-long candidate list was cut down to 13 by the Constitutional Council, the body which regulates elections in Tunisia.
    "I want these elections to be an opportunity for the candidates, for citizens and for young people, a chance for all of us to proclaim the necessity and importance of fundamental political reforms that will transform society from the total domination of one voice to a state where every tunisian man and woman are truly considered free," said Ahmed Brahim as he spoke of his hopes for the elections in October.
    The fourth presidential candidate, a lawyer and Director of the Unionist Democratic Union (UDU), Ahmed Inoubli, held a press conference calling for new political and economic reforms in the north African country.
    "We (UDU) are a candidate because we want a new generations of political reforms and an alternative economic choice, at the moment we have the liberal economy and market economy, a national culture that would maintain our Arab-Muslim identity, a new health card for the country and work for the unemployed." Inoubli said.
    Not all parties expressed willingness to take part.
    The Progressive Democratic Party announced on Sunday (October 11) it was boycotting the parliamentary elections and accused the government of marginalising the opposition.
    Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali gained power in the Tunisia, a strong ally of former colonial power France, in 1987 when doctors declared the then President Habib Bourguiba senile and unfit to rule.
    A referendum in 2002 revised the constitution to allow the president an unlimited number of successive five-year terms.
    Commentators say Ben Ali has made Tunisia north Africa's best educated country with its largest middle class and his policies in the 1990s spared Tunisians the bloody internal conflict experienced at that time by neighbouring Algeria.
    But opponents and human rights activists argue his re-election would make him a de facto president-for-life, like his predecessor, Bourguiba, who once declared himself such.
    Multi-party politics began in the early 1980s and the government says it has started granting legal opposition groups financial support to boost democracy.
    The President's ruling party dominates the legislature, as by law 80 percent of the seats in the 189-seat assembly are reserved for the ruling party. The remainder are contested by six opposition parties.
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