Amal Hilali - Tunisia

With the launch of the presidential campaign marathon in Tunisia, many chose to address their supporters and win over new voters through slogans that varied in content, while some stirred controversy, but the goal was one: to win the presidential chair.

Twenty-six presidential candidates representing parties and coalitions, and others independently, began gradually to hang their pictures and posters on the streets of Tunisia on Monday, while others devised new ways to publicize their election programs.

"It needs Hama," a slogan the Popular Front candidate Hamma Hammami has chosen to address his supporters, inspired by the Tunisian popular imagination in reference to "the right man in the right place," according to campaign member Wael Nawar.

Nawar told Al Jazeera Net that Hamma Hammami "with his past struggle and clean hand" is the best man to lead the country, pointing out that the slogan of the campaign was proposed by party supporters during campaigns led by the candidate between several regions in Tunisia.

Democrat candidate Mohammed Abbou chose the slogan "a strong and fair state" to promote his campaign. His campaign manager, Mohamed Larbi Jelassi, considered that the slogan was not arbitrary, but accompanied the candidate for many years and applied it when he was in power and in the opposition.

Jelassi told Al Jazeera Net that establishing a strong and fair state would be one of Abbou's priorities once he came to power, within the constitutional powers granted to him, criticizing the exploitation of those in power to state institutions and the judiciary to serve their personal interests.

He described the performance of previous governments as "weak, which reflected negatively on the image of Tunisia at home and abroad, and shaken the confidence of Tunisians in the entire political class," he said.

While Moncef Marzouki made "The Future Gather Us" the title of his campaign, Mehdi Jemaa chose her "The Future of Tunisia". The slogan of Nabil Karoui, imprisoned on corruption charges, is "in the heart of Tunisia," while the slogan of Hammadi Jabali's campaign was "Come on Tunisia" (Come to Tunisia).

Photos of four presidential candidates showing campaign slogans (Al Jazeera)

Theft of logos
Candidates Youssef Chahed and Abdel Fattah Moreau were attacked by their political opponents for stealing their campaign slogans from parties and political figures from inside and outside Tunisia.

Yusuf's choice of the slogan "Tunisia is stronger" has been seen by many as a clear theft of campaigning for former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, while the witness responded to the accusations as a coincidence.

In turn, MP and founder of the Amal Movement, Yassin Ayari, accused parties of stealing his party's slogan "Amal and Work", while supporters of Democratic Party candidate Mohamed Abbou Abdel Fattah Moro accused of stealing the party's slogan "a strong and fair state."

Advertising style
Sadiq al-Hamami, a university professor and specialist in media and communication science, acknowledges that the political propaganda discourse of candidates has changed compared to the 2014 presidential elections.

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He told Al-Jazeera Net that, unlike the ideological polarization that characterized the political and propaganda discourse of the candidates five years ago, the electoral scene today witnessed a wide participation of diverse intellectual and social spectrums after the competition was limited to two streams represented in Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes.

He considered in his talk to Al Jazeera Net that the political scene is dominated by fragmentation even within the political family and one party, which escalated the pace of propaganda competition and sometimes make it a serious turn, as described.

Al-Hamami pointed out that some presidential candidates are interested in their external appearance and in a way that addresses the public, while others chose to abandon the tuxedo and tie, whether through their posters or in city tours.

The use of buses to hang pictures of candidates is a method that erythema considered innovative for some candidates such as Mehdi Juma and Mohamed Abbou, as opposed to what he silently understood for other candidates like Qais Said.

It is noteworthy that the Higher Independent Electoral Commission in Tunisia set the ceiling of the total expenditure of the electoral campaigns of the candidates by about one million and 50 thousand dinars (about 360 thousand dollars), while the establishment of a committee to monitor the financing of election campaigns and the distribution of 1200 sworn observers in all provinces.