"Earthquake" of the elections .. Do you blow the Renaissance?

Khamis Ben Brik-Tunisia

The absence of Ennahdha candidate Abdel Fattah Moro for the second round of Tunisia's presidential election seems to have resonated and influenced.Zubair al-Shahoudi, former head of the movement's president, Rashed Ghannouchi, today announced his resignation today from all his leadership tasks, calling on Ghannouchi to retire from politics.

The resignation comes after the previous resignation of Lotfi Zeitoun, political advisor to the movement's president, without giving reasons, but according to some leaks, it appears that his resignation comes because of his differing views with Ghannouchi, who observers said he "monopolized the power of decision."

According to the official results of the first round, independent candidate and university professor Qais Said led by 18.40%, followed by the candidate of the Heart of Tunisia Nabil Karoui, second with 15.5%, while Moro came third with 12.8%.

Change message
This result carries a strong message of change by the voters of the political class, including Ennahdha, according to Zubair Al-Shahoudi, Al Jazeera Net, pointing out that it includes an explicit call for political parties to leave their place to others to find real solutions to what the country is suffering.

"It was a quiet fund revolution in which voters said their words to change the political landscape," he said. "He responded to the call by voters to step down from his responsibilities within the movement and return to bases because he failed to absorb the transformations that took place after the revolution."

He blamed the head of Ennahda for the erosion of its electoral stockpile because of what he described as controlling decision-making power and choosing the wrong approach in leading the movement, especially after changing the will of the top voters to choose their representatives in the upcoming legislative elections.

Al-Shahoudi apologized in a comment published on his Facebook page for what he called a failure from his position within the movement to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the revolution and to achieve development, welfare and social justice, accusing Ghannouchi and his brother-in-law of excluding and excluding dissenting opinion.

Previous differences
Ennahda has seen disagreements within it over Ghannouchi's changes to the lists of candidates for the legislative elections, according to the powers of the Executive Office, but leaders of the movement considered the plan arbitrarily on the will of the electorate and the freedom of choice.

"The result of the presidential elections shows that the president of Ennahda is out of time and has not absorbed the new transformations. I, too, have not understood what is going on," he said.

He considered that the Ghannouchi era is over and that he will not have any right to preside Ennahdha by the 11th Congress in May, stressing that there will be no possibility to revise the law of the Movement for renewal more than two terms to preside the movement.

The domination of Ghannouchi
This criticism was not hidden to anyone, according to political analyst Munther Baldiavi, as he believes that the statement of the witness expresses the existence of a major democratic crisis in the Islamic Renaissance.

"There is a great deal of restlessness that engulfs influential historical leaders within Ennahdha because of the president's dominance of the Shura Council, which is a mere institution, while Ghannouchi clings to the power of political decision-making, international relations and the sources of funding," he said.

The spokesman attributed what he called the defeat of Ennahdha to the presence of coldness in the relationship between Ghannouchi and its candidate, Abdel Fattah Moro, noting that he did not organize a campaign propaganda for a remarkable Moro, who was selected a few days before the closing of the nominations.

He expected Ennahdha to record a further decline in the level of the results of the legislative elections on October 6, explaining that the decline of its electoral tank from 1.4 million voters in 2011 to less than 450 thousand in the first round of the presidency now.

Reject the accusations
On the other hand, the leader and deputy of Ennahda Agami al-Worimi rejected all accusations against Ghannouchi, pointing out that he played his role and responsibilities properly after the revolution in leading the political reform process in the country and even within the movement.

Al-Wuraimi said in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the renaissance movement will be cracked because Moro did not pass the second round, stressing that the recorded result is considered honorable, because the movement presented for the first time in its history a candidate for the presidencies and in a very tight time.

Al-Warimi justified the rise of Saeed and Al-Qarawi with the desire of voters to change through the ballot boxes, pointing out that despite the political success in the country, the economic and social conditions were deteriorating.

He stressed that all opinion polls show that Ennahdha tops the voting intentions in the upcoming legislative elections, denying that the movement is threatened by any divisions or internal fissures, although he stressed the need to be aware of the requirements of the next stage.

He attributed the reason for the decline of the electoral tank of Ennahdha in the last municipal elections in 2018 and in the first round of the current presidential elections due to the criticism of its members for the adoption of the policy of compatibility with the Nidaa Tounes movement founded by the late President Beji Kaid Essebsi.