Election Campaigns for Tunisian Presidencies

Badr Eddine Ouhaibi - Tunisia

In a corner of a café in the middle of a Tunis street, Cheb Selim used to take a break after a painstaking morning trip on public transport, carrying him from the city's periphery where he lives in one of the popular neighborhoods, from where he set off to a gathering point to activate a campaign for a candidate in Tunisia's presidencies.

Since the start of the presidential campaigns in which 26 candidates are competing, the streets in various governorates have witnessed an exceptional movement, which has been overshadowed by the propaganda tents that erected everywhere in different colors.The traffic is sometimes disrupted by the distribution of young men and women leaflets and pictures of presidential candidates to be held next Sunday.

Salim, 23, takes a final look at the contents of a backpack he put under the table, with a jacket, hat and wall stickers bearing the image and number of the presidential candidate, his only increase in a daily battle he has been fighting for almost a week in his campaign team.

Strenuous tasks
The tasks of Salim and his accompanying youth are mainly divided into three things: distributing leaflets to pedestrians, visiting neighborhoods and reaching residents in their homes, and finally putting up signs in public places and equipment such as bus stations and lighting poles.Each corner can be turned into a publicity device.

In this regard, he says that the roles change daily according to a set field schedule set by the local official in charge of the campaign, which in turn receives instructions and recommendations from the central administration, and represents the focal point of the field with campaign managers in the event of problems with the security services on the road and advertising tents.

He adds that the campaign includes the slogan of providing a remarkable, respectable and continuous presence of the candidate's campaign throughout the propaganda period, so they are required to be disciplined in their contact with the citizens and to refer to the head of the point to raise their remarks and answer questions of some that are at the heart of the candidate's electoral program.

"Mercato" campaigns
Salim and his youth are devoted to campaigning and consider it an exceptional activity, given the country's political situation, which was made possible by one of his acquaintances belonging to a party because of his confidence in his morals and discipline. His working day runs from morning and sometimes lasts late at night when traveling to other cities and provinces.

Jazma says that by coming into contact with the young men who are active with him, he is sure that a significant part of them are not intellectually affiliated with any political current, and as with him, they came to search for a source of livelihood that does not require a significant knowledge increase, what concerns them is the amount of about thirty dinars (about $ 10) is the day's fare at the end of the campaign.

According to Imad - a campaign manager - the cost of the shirt and hat printed about thirty dinars (10 dollars), in addition to the expenses of field work such as eating, drinking and transportation.

He sarcastically adds that he envies a friend who has moved to another campaign that offers more privileges in terms of free food and transport cards, as well as a daily grant and additional bonuses determined by the point head who assesses activity and effective field presence, but unfortunately even this type of mandate is through narrow mediation.

The ambience of the field
The propaganda tents of presidential candidates are located at the entrances to markets, neighborhoods and areas with high mobility and high population density. This is a measure that leads many supervisors to compete in choosing the appropriate position that makes them within sight and corridor of the people, making it easier to communicate with them.

"Ahmed S." Musharraf on the election point of an important candidate in the presidential, tells Al Jazeera Net that the field work is complementary to the media presence, and coordination is already with campaign managers on the concentration of young activists in the campaign based on some media statements directed to a category, such as the entrances to industrial zones When it comes to a statement addressed to workers.

He adds that there is often a warm competitive environment due to the category of youth belonging to the campaigns, who know each other on the basis of belonging to the same city and sometimes the same neighborhood where they live, and in a few cases is coordinated with the supervisors of the campaigns to respect a certain distance to avoid confusion and disturb the citizens.

I'm not the president
Obstructing a citizen's path and supplying it with an electoral brochure is not easy. Discussions and questions to young campaigners, often subjected to harsh criticism and embarrassing in front of passers-by, but often have a ready answer trained in advance not to provoke the other party.

Salim says that, given his experience in the field, he can distinguish between the spontaneous questions posed by some citizens about the feasibility of the election and the promises made by the candidates, and the contrived questions and criticisms made by hired parties from some competitors in order to embarrass us and influence voters.

He recalls that on one occasion he was surrounded by questions from a group he believed had fabricated the discussion with him in order to offend the image of the candidate who worked for him, and even stigmatized him as a supporter of terrorism for accepting to work for him. There were moments of emotional stress.

Tunisian youths have been turned into campaigning signs by human beings roaming the streets, ignored by all the laws governing the election campaigns that regard them as fuel for the battle of the field, according to observers.