Despite a campaign behind bars, Nabil Karoui, presidential candidate of Tunisia incarcerated since last month, ensures to have qualified for the second round of voting, Sunday, September 15, the evening of the first round of the presidential election.

Nicknamed the "Tunisian Berlusconi", the head of the media and advertising group Karoui & Karoui but also the main Tunisian television channel, Nessma, was detained last August 23 on the order of justice, who suspects him of fraud tax and money laundering. The court of appeal of Tunis had rejected, Friday, the request for release of the businessman, who denies any wrongdoing and claims to be a victim of political maneuvering.

Since 2016, the anti-corruption NGO I-Watch, a local branch of Transparency International, has accused Karoui and his brother, Ghazi, of creating companies in tax havens in order to reduce the amount of their taxes. Charges whose justice has just seized, the risk now being accused of instrumentalization by the political power.

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An "anti-system" candidate

Incarcerated at the Mornaguia prison near Tunis, the 56-year-old millionaire can nevertheless continue the electoral battle since only a conviction could have legally prevented him from doing so. His stay in detention has only strengthened his image of candidate "antisystem" and thus increased the voting intentions in his favor.

Interviewed in Le Parisien, his wife, Salwa Smaoui, explains: "He is combative, sure of himself, he fights, he manages his campaign from his cell as he can with an enormous sense of injustice and revolt against a election that the government tries to fake.Luckily on the ground people are waiting for one thing: vote to get him out of prison. "

Defender of the popular classes

Trained in marketing, the businessman began his career in France, going door-to-door for the Colgate-Palmolive brand. Then, in the 1990s, he founded the Karoui & Karoui company with his brother, becoming one of the main advertising companies in Tunisia. The two brothers created Nessma TV in 2007.

Claiming himself as a defender of the working class, Nabil Karoui travels the disadvantaged areas, distributing food and necessities, on behalf of his association, Khalil Thounès, created after the death of his eldest son in a car accident. Actions denounced by his detractors who see it as a "charity-business". Because these operations are relayed daily on the tycoon chain.

"Free the economy"

Founding member of the party Nidaa Tounes, which will be propelled ahead of the 2014 elections, and close to Béji Caïd Essebsi, who then becomes president, the businessman officially returned to politics last May. He announced his candidacy on his television channel and created in the process the party Kalb Tounes ("At the heart of Tunisia"), based essentially around his personality. Freely liberal, he presents himself as an entrepreneur willing to "liberate the economy".

Quickly presented as a favorite in the polls, the millionaire was quick to overshadow the prime minister, himself a candidate, Youssef Chahed. Karoui also nibbled on the side of the Ennahdha party, campaigning in the poor center of Tunisia, in the heart of the electoral pool of the Islamist party.

If the qualification in the second round of Nabil Karoui, incarcerated candidate, is confirmed, it will be an unprecedented situation in the world.

With AFP