Tunisia .. Do independents repeat the surprise of the legislative elections?

Amal al-Hilali - Tunisia

The doors of debate and debate have opened wide in Tunisia after the closure of the electoral commission doors to run for legislative elections by the deadlines for the acceptance of lists pending the decision and the extent of meeting the legal requirements.

The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced that there are 1592 candidate lists, distributed among 695 party lists, 707 independents and 190 coalitions.

The number of party candidates has fallen in favor of independents compared to 2014, which Bassam Maatar, deputy of the Tunisian Association for the Integrity and Democracy of Elections (ATID), has seen as an indicator of the failure of parties over the past five years to attract citizens.

In a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, Marat praised the rise in the number of independent lists. This was proof of the involvement of Tunisians in political life.

"This segment of independents did not find its way in parties that have eroded politically and lost their popularity and credibility in light of the current parliamentary scene, whether from the ruling parties or the opposition."

On June 18, the parliament approved the revision of chapters of the electoral law, including the establishment of the threshold of 3% in the legislature, but the refusal of the late President Qais al-Sibsi to approve the law before his death prevented its entry into force.

Confusion
He warned that this huge number of candidates for legislative elections, whether from parties or independents, created a distortion of the voter during the voting process, calling on civil society organizations and the electoral commission to intensify their efforts to rationalize the voter in this regard.

The leader of the Arab Democratic Progressive Party, Al-Jazeera Net, said that the progress of the legislative elections is a constitutionally guaranteed right for every Tunisian, stressing that political life must be built on parties as "the most effective way to organize in order to obtain homogeneous blocs in parliament."

He explained that what the independents achieved during the last municipal elections - from success and superiority over the parties after presenting them to the public as homogenous blocs - as an incentive for some to run on independent lists away from the logic of partisan.

He stressed in the same context that the democratic trend was keen to submit candidates on 33 electoral lists in all constituencies, stressing the nomination of Party Secretary Mohamed Abbou for the presidential elections.

The independents lists topped the results of the municipal elections held on May 6, 2018, after gaining 32.9% ahead of the parties. The renaissance came at 26.6%, followed by Tunisia's 22.7%.

ridicule
The large number of Tunisian lawmakers pushed for comment through social networks between cynical, critical and skeptical about the seriousness of some of them, in the absence of efficiency by deputies who proved their failure or recorded almost complete absence from the sessions to re-submit their candidacy.

Parliament member Bushra Belhadj Hamida said in a blog post that a significant number of the lists were "outrageous" and expressed her hope for the Tunisians to choose the most efficient and efficient.

"1592 candidates list .. 15737 candidates .. 72 candidates for each seat .. The search is under way for the people to elect candidates."

A member of the Executive Office of the Journalists Syndicate, Mahdi al-Jalasi, described the legislative lists as "funerals," declaring in a manner that is not without humor and criticism that he is running for a list that he has chosen to sell himself.

Activist Sami Ben Said called for civil monitoring organizations to issue a non-politicized, non-partisan electoral guide to guide voters and facilitate their selection process for candidates under an "electoral situation closer to farce than to serious elections based on real projects and programs."

In a report issued two days ago, Al-Shorouq revealed corruption, smuggling and money-laundering cases that have been hunting down prominent legislative candidates, including current deputies.

And concluded that most of them are seeking to nominate themselves from a seat in Parliament to ensure immunity for the next five years to prevent them from any prosecution.