Tunisia: "Abdelfattah Mourou is able to gather beyond the electoral base of Ennahda"

The race at the Carthage Palace is launched in Tunisia. Candidates for the presidential election have until August 9 to file their file, while the ballot was advanced to September 15 after the death of President Beji Caid Essebsi. This disruption of the electoral calendar pushed the Islamist party Ennahda, one of the main political forces of the country since the establishment of democracy in 2011, to present a candidate. He was previously reluctant, preferring to bet on a success in the legislative planned initially before the presidential election. A consensual figure, Abdelfattah Mourou, vice-president of the party and acting president of Parliament, was appointed by a majority on the night of Tuesday 6 to Wednesday 7 August by the advisory council of Ennahda.

Long suppressed by the father of independence, Habib Bourguiba, then under the dictatorship of Ben Ali before being legalized in March 2011, Ennahda now has 68 deputies out of 217 in the Assembly of People's Representatives. Anxious to show a modern and reformist image, the training strives since the revolution to police its image and to exclude any activity of religious preaching.

A lawyer by training, Abdelfattah Mourou, 71, was one of the co-founders of the movement in 1981 alongside his current president, Rached Ghannouchi. Unlike the latter, Mourou is a moderate leader, according to a senior representative of Ennahda "to unite Tunisians and find a consensus among rivals" within the party. Tunisian political scientist Selim Kharrat, founder of the Al-Bawsala political observatory, answered questions from France 24 about the issues raised by his candidacy.

France 24 : Why Ennahda, who did not present a candidate for the 2014 election , this year chooses to start the race at the palace of Carthage ?

Selim Kharrat: The original strategy of Ennahdha was not to present a candidate from his ranks but rather to support, as they did in 2014, a consensus candidate, with whom they had a real winning potential. But many things have changed in the meantime, including the death of Beji Caid Essebsi, who led the body that organizes the elections to advance the presidential calendar.

Tunisia is a semi-parliamentary regime where, in all logic, the legislative elections are much more important to the parties than the presidential ones. Especially since the President of the Republic gathers limited prerogatives, mainly related to national defense and foreign affairs. As the elections are scheduled according to the new timetable in the middle of the two rounds of the presidential election, the results of the first round will inevitably have an impact on opinion and consequently the results of the legislative elections.

This is why Ennahdha considered it important to be present during the debates for the election, at least for the first round. It would not make sense that they are not involved with this new calendar.

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What prompted the party's advisory council to choose its vice president, Abdelfattah Mourou ?

There was quite a long debate within the Ennahda Shura Council, because there were two opinions that diverged. First, those who preferred to present a candidate from their ranks, judging Ennahda sufficiently mature and strong of his experience in power. Another part of the militants preferred not to expose themselves too much by choosing a consensual candidate. The debate eventually led to the appointment of Abdelfattah Mourou.

It's not just any leader. He is first of all a co-founder of the party, a great activist and a leader of importance. He is also the third person in the power pyramid as vice-president of the Assembly of People's Representatives [he has been interim president since his predecessor Mohamed Ennaceur became acting head of state. , after the death of Beji Caid Essebsi].

But it is probably probably one of the most "soft", consensual leaders who has the best chance of gathering beyond the electoral base of Ennahdha. Born in Greater Tunis, he made the same schools as the current ruling elite. He is a lawyer by profession who has defended human rights defenders during the Ben Ali dictatorship. He enjoys a certain aura and recognition.

In presenting Mourou, Ennahda probably does not have as primary objective the gain of the presidential election. What is important for them is to be present at the public debate and to avoid the policy of the empty chair, which would have had potentially serious consequences for the legislative. The main objective of Ennahda is rather to gather the maximum number of seats in Parliament.

The ideal scenario would be to have a president from his ranks, who could work well with a head of government also from his ranks.

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What are the chances for Abdelfattah Mourou to be elected ?

He might have chances to pass the first round, but no one can predict his chances of being elected president. On the other hand, we must not forget that among voters, there is always a fringe eradicating compared to Islamists. Many Tunisians still do not accept that Ennahda plays freely on the political scene, and even worse, that the party has been in power since 2011. Psychologically, many Tunisians, even if they have nothing against the person de Mourou, refuse to give their trust and their voice to the party because they feed this eradicating thought that the Ben Ali regime has put in the minds of the early 1990s.

Despite all its efforts to normalize, smooth its image and convince Tunisians that it is a political party among others, Ennahda obviously does not inspire enough confidence to the entire Tunisian population.

Beyond the presidential election, Ennahda can he remain the party with the largest number of deputies in the Tunisian Parliament ?

They are likely to be among the first parliamentary blocs of the future Parliament. Ennahda remains a popular party, enjoying a fairly comfortable electoral base, even if its size and scope is reduced with time and the wear of power. They have an incompressible mattress of militants who are very disciplined. It is a whole fringe of the very conservative Tunisian society, attached to the traditions and to the cultic aspects, and which does not see itself to vote for another party, in particular to the legislative ones.