Amal Hilali - Tunisia
They separated parties and coalitions after joining forces in 2014 to fight together against the return of the tyranny in Tunisia, and then mobilized to push for a unified candidate in which the values of the revolution meet, turning the scene five years later into a fierce competition for access to Carthage Palace.
The political landscape has changed in 2019, according to observers, and the relations between the people on the revolutionary line have become a manifestation of hostility and the exchange of accusations as a tool to promote election campaigns, and the overthrow of yesterday's friends who decided to run independently or partisanly.
Moncef Marzouki, Mohamed Abbou, Hammadi Jebali, Seif Eddine Makhlouf and Qais Said, names of Tunisians have long been associated with the values of the revolution and together have formed a strong barrier against attempts to return to the tyranny circle, but today they chose to break the spiritual bond that gathered them and run elections individually.
Differences and calculations
Imad al-Daimi, head of the campaign candidate Moncef Marzouki, said that the competition between the faces calculated on the revolutionary line was imposed by the nature of the stage, as the issue is no longer a confrontation between the forces of the revolution and counter-revolution, he said.
Al-Daimi stressed that the differences between the friends of yesterday were mainly between forces that want to push for change, and others that want to maintain a system of interests.
He pointed out that the state of political fragmentation experienced by the forces of the revolution and the escalation of differences between them in the visions and perceptions of governance and the nature of consensus, prevented the agreement on a single candidate from the revolutionary system itself.
Al-Daimi points out that there is a political appreciation among all parties that presenting a candidate for the presidential elections from within, even if he is not a serious candidate, is a means for the media and political emergence to mobilize support and provide more chances in the legislative elections.
Marzouki's campaign manager acknowledged that his party had contacts over the past few days with presidential candidates affiliated with the forces of change, such as Hammadi Jebali and Seif Eddine Makhlouf. There were meetings to reach a joint candidate, but there was no agreement.
He explained that there are those who defended not to compromise in favor of a consensual candidate from the revolutionary system, for fear of the reaction of his supporters, after the fact that he has a popular base to support him to contest this benefit and therefore no longer the decision in his hands.
Narcissistic leadership
Presidential candidate Hammadi Jebali had commented on the multiple nominations for faces affiliated with the forces of the revolution, stressing that he had launched a personal initiative launched three years ago to rally into one candidate, but failed because of what he called "the primacy of personal interests and leadership."
Abdul Latif al-Alawi, the leader of the Dignity Coalition, a grouping of faces affiliated with the revolutionary forces, made no secret of what he said were "narcissistic leadership and dictatorial diseases," whose contagion has shifted from the former to the revolutionary forces.
He considered that the 2019 elections have saluted many candidates, even those who do not have serious qualifications or ample chances to win, accusing the old system of working on the fragmentation and dispersal of revolutionary forces through the mechanism of sounding suspicious views blown in the pictures of some of them.
"We in the coalition of dignity are fully aware that the state of fragmentation experienced by the revolutionary family and the enemies of the old system will be dire consequences and will only serve the enemies of the revolution."
Al-Alawi revealed the negotiations that the coalition waged, which in turn nominated a figure from within to run for the presidential elections, with the aim of conceding some candidates to a candidate with the best chances to ensure that the electoral tank is not dispersed, but their demand has been rejected.
In the same context, the candidate for the Karama coalition for the presidential elections, Saifuddin Makhlouf, regretted the failure of attempts to assemble the revolutionary forces, both presidential and legislative elections.