aus: meastwire.com
„Observers: Youth preferred Marzouki over Sebsi …“
On November 26, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its correspondent in Tunis Hassan Salman: „The official results of the Tunisian presidential elections limited the difference between head of the Call of Tunisia, Caid es-Sebsi, and current President Moncef Marzouki to a mere 6%, at a time when some observers pointed out that the majority of the youth voted for Marzouki. They also expected major surprises in the second round of the elections, especially after Caid Sebsi refused to participate in a televised debate with Marzouki. According to researcher and political activist Anna Mounif (the head of the Kulna Tunis [We are all Tunisia] Association): „Regardless of Ennahda’s action in support of Marzouki, most of the underprivileged sides in the South preferred to give their votes to Marzouki, in addition to Hamma al-Hammami and Hachemi al-Hamedi.“
„[She added] that this was not due to any „regional logic as pointed out by some polls, rather to political and social reasons that are probably related to the electoral campaign of the candidates or the voters‘ search for new political faces.“ Mounif thus assured that Caid es-Sebsi, who is hoping to win the elections, will have to attract a large portion of the votes that went to the other candidates, and convince the voters who decided not to participate to do so, especially among the youth. She indicated on the other hand that the strategy, on which his electoral campaign was based, might lead to „unpleasant“ results, especially after he refused to participate in a televised debate with Marzouki. Moncef al-Marzouki had invited Beji Caid Sebsi to participate in a live televised debate before the Tunisian people, as it is seen in a number of democratic countries around the world. But the latter refused…
„On the other hand, most of the observers are wondering about the absence of a large portion of the Tunisian youth from the legislative and presidential elections in particular, some justifying it by the lack of trust in most of the candidates… and by the fact that their programs did not particularly address the youth. Mounif said at this level that many Tunisian youth stopped caring about public affairs years ago, „because the educational and cultural option adopted by the former regime weakened the youth’s awareness about political life and participation in public life. Moreover, there is no communication between the political parties and the youth.“ She added: „The youth think that most of the candidates do not represent or talk to them and it is logical for them to abstain from participating. More importantly, the youth are mobilized by their belonging, which is based on the ideological depth of political action.“
„[She continued:] „In other words, they are mobilized by political movements with a strong and clear personality compared to the other parties, which is why many among the youth belong to ideological parties (i.e. Islamic and democratic ones)…“ She thus believed that the largest percentage of the youth’s votes primarily went to Marzouki and Hamma al-Hammami, followed by Businessman Salim ar-Riyahi, explaining that: „Marzouki and Hammami somewhat mark a severance with the past and have a vision for the future…““
Al-Quds al-Arabi, United Kingdom