Tunisia
1. Country Profile
Capital: Tunis
Population: 10,629,186 (July 2011 est.)
Ethnic groups: Arab 98%, European 1%, Other 1%
Religions: Muslim 99%, Christians 1 %
Languages: Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce)
Regime Type: Republic
Head of state: Interim President Moncef Marzouki
Prime Minister: Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali
Transition government
Last Parliament (Seat Distribution, see below. Last Election: 2011)
Freedom House Ranking: NOT FREE
GDP / Capita: $2,270
Literacy Rate: 74,3%.
Unemployment Rate: 14 %
Human Development Index (2009): 0.703 (123rd)
Transition/Elections
2. Current Political Situation
On 17 December 2010, street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest the harassment by police and the lack of proper jobs for Tunisian and Tunisian youth. The immolation started the so called “Yasmin revolution” (in the Western world) or “Revolution for dignity” (in Tunisia). This one month protests claimed 600 deaths and led to the stepping down of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, after 23 years in power, on January 14, 2011. He and the Trabelsi clique fled to Saudi Arabia where they still reside. Analysts oppose the “facebook revolution” theory to the “palace revolution” theory. In any case, it served as a catalyst for the “Arab spring”.
On 15 January, Interim President Fouad M'BAZAA takes up the presidency. A first transition government was established on January 17, following article 57 of the Tunisian Constitution, and led by former Ben Ali’s Prime Minister Mohammed Gannouchi. This lacked legitimacy as it was mostly composed by RCD members. On February 7 and 9, the Parliament and Senate composed by majority of RCD, gave power to the PM to govern by “décret lois”. On February 11, various left organisations formed the “conseil national pour la protection de la révolution” CNPR. General strikes and sit-ins in front of the PM residence (Kasbah) led to resignation of Gannouchi. On 27 February, a second transition government conducted by Prime Minister Beji Caid ESSEBSI was established. In the past months, the government was severely criticized by civil society movement as lacking legitimacy (Casbah 1, 2 and 3 sit-ins). Early August, the liberation of former Ben Ali's ministers (Béchir Tekkari, former Justice Minister; Saida Agrebi former president of Organisation tunisienne des mères, first hand to Leïla Trabelsi) or RCD leader Abdelrahim Zouari without charges reinforced the criticism against impunity. While Moubarak was in court in Egypt, Ben Ali was abroad and could not be brought to court in Tunisia. The Association des Magistrats Tunisiens claims that RCD judges are still holding power in the Conseil supérieur de la Magistrature and in courts, while the reform of the judiciary system is blocked.
Situation before the elections and political parties
Tunisians claim for a “revolutionary legitimacy” based on free, democratic and transparent elections, but the July 24 general elections were postponed to October 23, due to various constraints (logistical, political, economical). Only interim president Fouad M’BAZAA counted with the “constitutional legitimacy”, as he was granted emergency powers (sign international treaties, the right to nominate the government). The discredit of the institutions was also translated into the decision to elect a Constitutive assembly before organizing presidential elections.
Mustapha Ben Jaafar, FDTL and three UGTT representatives first accepted and then resigned from the first transition government. Ahmed Ibrahim Ettajdid and Ahmed Najib Chebbi, PDP participated in it. The first then supported the creation of the "Comité de sauvegarde de la révolution", an initiative pushed by the UGTT union and the « lawyers association ». This was integrated together with the "commission supérieure de la réforme politique", into a "Haute Commission pour la réalisation des objectifs de la révolution, de la réforme politique et de la transition démocratique" which aims to propose a new Constitution to the Constitutive Assembly elected on October 23 and to reform the electoral code beforehand. All banned parties were authorized, which legalized among others Renaissance “Ennadah (led by Al Gannouchi), the Tunisian Workers Communist Party PCOT (led by Hammami) and Congress for Republic CPR (led by Marzouki). Today 105 parties are officially recognized:
http://www.partistunisie.com/fr/index.html
The EUOM was deployed, led by Michael Gahler MEP. Numerous domestic and other international observers were also being deployed. The number of "active" registered voters is 4 million, but basically all Tunisian can vote by presenting an ID card in the district their ID was delivered.
Obstacles to the elections are still important, from logistical to political ones, but the ISIE has done an impressive task as an independent body to ensure a successful and transparent process.
3. Main Issues
Politics : choice of electoral system for the election of the constitutive Assembly, dissolution and no restoration of RCD establishment, create platform among the 100 new born political parties, establish a truly independent judiciary system, support transparent, democratic and fair elections, support civil society involvement in democratic transition, reform the interior ministry
Economic: relaunch tourism, abolition of the “dette odieuse” (contracted by the Trabelsi clique) and reschedule the external debt, immediate recovery use of Ben Ali’s frozen assets by the government, support diaspora’s contribution to economic development, find balance between inland and costal development, reinforce the regional development ministry to target deprived areas, target youth unemployment etc.
Social : provide support to civil society movement outside of political parties; target youth; support public service administration, especially education, reform the police and the security forces, manage youth despair and demands, provide trial for Ben Ali etc.
Immigration: propose alternative micro projects to Tunisian “Lampedusa” migrants in exchange of voluntary return; invest massively in the country
Refugees: provide humanitarian assistance and resettlement programs for Libyans in Tunisia
4. EU- Tunisia relations
Tunisia was the first to sign an agreement association with the EU, implemented in 1998. The negotiation of the ”advanced status” was ongoing, despite non respect of numerous human rights and other clauses. The EU is the most important economic partner for Tunisia (70% total trade) It exports clothes and manufactured products, when the EU exports machinery and transport equipment. EU tourism is the most important source of income for the country.
EU multi annual programmation (2011-2013) € 214 Million.
On February 3rd, the EP adopted a resolution, with S&D support in reaction to the repression of protests. EP delegations (DROI/AFET/deleg Maghreb, LIBE in July) and Group missions have been organized in Tunisia.
"Instrument for Stability" was voted to support the electoral process: assist the interim authorities and foster the participation of civil society in the process (€ 2 Million, starting April 2011, for 18 months) through direct funding to the Tunisian electoral reform commission and 6 NGOs or international organizations. The EC has re-launched talks on "advanced status" and promised additional support for the transition.
The Electoral Observation Mission of the EP was composed of 15 MEP-s, led by Albertini EPP. SD MEP-s were Panzeri, Crocetta, Goebbels and Romero Lopez and Gomes with the invitation by NDI. It was deployed from Oct. 20 to Oct. 23.
S&D organised an event on September 21 in the EP: Elections and democratic transition: a historical opportunity for Tunisia?
5. Elections (modified information from the European Forum website)
On 23 October 2011, for the first time in history Tunisia has held free elections. The elections were held for a National Constituent Assembly (NCA). After the ouster of former President Ben Ali in January, the task of the 217-seat NCA will be to write a new constitution for the country and to form an interim government. International observers noted that the elections were free and fair, although some minor problems have arisen, especially in relation to the unexpectedly high voter turnout. This led to long lines outside polling stations and the late publication of results.Over 80 parties participated in the elections, with many more independent candidates. The two most important issues in the campaign were the questions of the place of religion within the new constitution and how to deal with the remaining Ben Ali's regime representatives.
The biggest winner of the first free elections is Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party that is led by Rachid Ghanouchi. The party wants the sharia to form the basis of a multi-party, secular state and has pledged to work together with other parties. It usually compares itself with Turkey’s ruling AK-Party.
The biggest surprise of the elections was the electoral defeat of the progressive centre-left PDP. They had been consistently polling as the second largest party of the country and were seen as the main rivals to Ennahda.
Ennahda has signed a coalition agreement with CPR and Ettakatol according to which the Prime Minister will be the Vice-Chair of Ennahda Hamadi Jebali, the President of the country leader of the CPR Moncef Marzouki and Head of the Constituent Assembly Mustapha Ben Jaafar from Ettakatol.The two latter have been already elected. The NCA has on 12 December also adopted a provisional constitution that sets the stage for the country to name a new government..
In total, the NCA has approximately one representative per 60.000 Tunisians. Turnout among registered voters was around 70%, but unregistered voters were also allowed to vote. Total turnout is estimated to have been around 85%. With over 10% of Tunisians living abroad, 18 seats were reserved for the Tunisian diaspora.
Socialist sister party FDTL/Ettakatol The FDTL (often referred to as Ettakatol) is a secular social democratic party and intends to fight for the youth and women of Tunisian society. The party was severely repressed under the dictatorship of Ben Ali, but was given a ministerial seat in the transitional government that formed after its fall. They gave up this seat within days when they found the old regime too strongly represented in the new government. The party relies heavily on grassroots members and social media in its activities.
Results
Party
seats
Ennahda
89
CPR
29
Popular Petition
26
FDTL/Ettakatol
20
PDP
16
Al Moubadara
5
Ettajid/PDM
5
Afek Tounes
4
Tunisian Workers' Communist Party
3
Movement of Socialist Democrats
2
2
1
1
1
1
Cultural Unionist Nation Party
1
1
1
Social-Democratic Nation Party
1
Other
23
6. Like Minded Partners
A. Sister party and/or progressive counterpart
Member Internationale socialiste: Forum Démocratique pour le Travail et les Libertés, FDTL
Others to be determined on a case to case basis
B. Civil society organizations
To be determined on a case to case basis
Updated: 14.12.11
