Najeh Zaghdoudi-Tunisia
The Tunisian presidential election campaign has gained momentum in the poor provinces and popular areas outside the capital. A number of prominent candidates have chosen to launch their campaign, with great promises of development.
Residents of these areas say they are receiving elections this year at a time when they were awaiting the fulfillment of election promises in the 2014 elections, "of which none have been fulfilled."
From the delegation of Kabaria, a crowded neighborhood in Tunis, the outgoing prime minister and presidential candidate Youssef Chahed chose to launch his campaign.
| Part of Youssef Chahed's campaign in Tataouine, southern Tunisia |
Receptions and protests
The witness then moved to the provinces of southern Tunisia in an apparent attempt to win the voices of the less developed regions, and pictures of the communication sites showed crowds greeted him, and was not free from the protests in a number of quarters.
During his visit to Kairouan governorate on September 6, unemployed protesters demonstrated for months in front of the headquarters of the governorate of Kairouan demanding employment.
The witness's arrival also coincided with a protest by civil society activists in Sbeikha city, in protest at the low health services and lack of equipment and doctors. The construction of King Salman University Hospital was delayed with an external donation of $ 85 million.
Among the governorates that witnessed intense electoral propaganda were Kasserine, which was also the cradle of the January 14, 2011, one of the poorest provinces, which were harmed by terrorism, and recorded high levels of poverty and poor development indicators.
| Hamma Hammami started his campaign from the countryside of Kairouan (Al Jazeera) |
Electoral stock
For these candidates, the poor governorates are considered an electoral stockpile despite the state of poverty, unemployment, developmental marginalization and the absence of basic water and work facilities, according to observers.
The candidate Mohammed Abbo (Democratic Current-Opposition) chose the “Aghlabid capital” to launch his campaign under the slogan of the popular assembly, before the delegations of candidates such as Qais Said (independent) came down.
Hamadi Jebali (independent and former prime minister) and candidate Hamma Hammami (Popular Front for the Opposition) also passed through the countryside, denouncing the "bad situation" and promising a better tomorrow for those areas.
The "Aghlabid capital" recorded the highest percentage of protest movements, according to statistics of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, and the highest rates of suicides in Kairouan governorate.
For his part, the candidate pledged former Defense Minister Abdul Karim al-Zubaidi from the province of Jendouba in the far northwest to develop border areas and restore the prestige of the state. It is the governorate where Ennahda candidate Abdel Fattah Moreau has pledged to hold Al-Shabaab agricultural land.
| Abdelfattah Moro speaks to citizens as part of his campaign in Jendouba (Anatolia) |
Hope and promises
In the governorate of Gafsa (southern Tunisia), the wife of the candidate Nabil Karoui (head of the Heart Party of Tunisia), who was arrested on the grounds of financial and tax evasion, chose to launch the campaign on behalf of her husband in her hometown, and addressed the people of the city in their local dialect, speaking of the ability Her husband is improving the situation in the region.
Promises to improve the situation are the common denominator between the ruling party and the opposition, while the witness spoke of what he described as his successes in the fight against terrorism, and that he carries a real reform project focuses opposition candidates on the low development indicators to strike blows against the system of government that ruled after the revolution, including the Troika For the Republic), the Mahdi Juma government, a one-year transitional government, and post-2014 governments.
Hashemi al-Hamdi, the most charitable candidate in rural areas, said that the problems of those he visited - including Kairouan and Kasserine - "are not solved by providing financial aid and charity to citizens, but need to fight corruption and review oil contracts, salt and vital resources."
For their part, civil society organizations in Kairouan are working on documenting electoral data and promises for candidates under the slogan "Watch you and hold you accountable" in order to hold candidates accountable for not activating their electoral promises.