Concentrated, studious: eight of the 26 Tunisian presidential candidates showed their creed on Saturday, September 7, during the first of three evenings of televised debate, a very rare event in the Arab world that lasted two hours and was closely followed by voters.

Eight days before the first round of voting, this debate was hailed as "historic" and "a moment of pride" by Tunisians gathered in cafes or commenting on the live broadcast on social networks.

For two and a half hours, standing behind their desks, the candidates answered questions drawn by two moderator journalists.

Originally, they had to be nine, but the controversial candidate and businessman Nabil Karoui was away, jailed for money laundering since August 23rd. However, he was invited into the debate by tweeting during the evening.

The other candidates, including the Islamist Abdelfattah Mourou, former Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, former President Moncef Marzouki, the anti-Islamist passionaria Abir Moussi and human rights activist Mohammed Abbou, have not evoked the absent.

Security, diplomacy, civil liberties, economic and social issues ... The range was wide and everyone had 90 seconds to answer, time ruthlessly punctuated by beeps when they threatened to overflow.

The show was completed after two hours, and everyone was able, for 99 seconds, to present his outline and his credo for his first 100 days of presidency.

Strong interest

Presented by the organizers as the "event" of the electoral campaign and as a "turning point" in the political life of Tunisia, a pioneer country of the Arab Spring, the debate, broadcast on eleven TV channels and about twenty radio stations, aroused strong interest.

Many Tunisians had thus met in cafes in the capital to watch the show.

In one of these cafes, whose chairs overflowed the street, several dozen spectators - mostly young people - watched until the end, without dropping, the political exercise a little agreed.

"It's still unclear to me, I can not find my candidate, they make standard answers," said Imen, a young woman. "History!", Exulted on its side a user on twitter while others worried about inaccuracies or questions asked.

According to political scientist Ziyed Krichen, many voters, unsettled by the plethora of candidates and issues difficult to identify, could decide through the debate. "It will probably be played during the three televised debates, on little, and a few thousand voices could radically change the face of the country," he said before the broadcast of the show.

Almost a first

The operation has been mobilizing public and private audiovisual media for weeks, as well as an NGO specialized in the political debate. Solemnly entitled "The road to Carthage, Tunisia makes its choice", the program was also broadcast on Iraqi, Libyan and Algerian television channels.

"This is a first step that will serve as inspiration", in an Arab world where "the culture of debate has not yet its place", Belabbes Benkredda hopes, of the partner NGO, Munathara.

"Often in the Arab world, when we talk about competition, we know in advance who wins at the end, with 99.99% Today, we do not know who will win," said Lassad Khedder, a representative of a syndicate of private television channels, co-organizer of the event.

In 2012, 15 months after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak by a protest movement inspired by the Tunisian revolution, Egypt had organized a televised duel, then described as "historic", between only two favorites of the 13 presidential candidates .

Sunday, September 8 and Monday, September 9 evening, the remaining 17 Tunisian candidates, divided into two groups, will also debate in front of the cameras.

With AFP