By RFIPosted on 09-17-2019 Modified 17-09-2019 at 04:59

At the end of the presidential election in Tunisia, the big losers seem to be the members of the palm party, Nidaa Tounès, who was in power. The candidate he supported, Abdelkarim Zbidi, is passing from finishing fourth with 10.1% of the vote.

Nidaa Tounès had however experienced a meteoric rise after the "Arab Spring" but her future looks very dark after this setback. Among the reasons given are the economic balance sheet, which did not convince voters, but also structural reasons.

To analyze the failure of Nidaa Tounès in the Tunisian presidential election, we must go back in time. The late president Beji Caid Essebsi created this party in 2012 after leaving the post of prime minister. This movement was anti-Islamist, in opposition to Ennahdha who, in October 2011, in the aftermath of the revolution, had just won the majority in the National Constituent Assembly.

But historically, Nidaa Tounès was deprived of base. To exist, the party brought together different currents, left and center-right as well as elders of the Ben Ali regime. This strategy was initially profitable since Nidaa Tounès will win the first legislative elections and the presidential election in 2014. However, to govern, the formation will lie its campaign and will unite with Ennahdha.

strife

Progressively, dissensions appear within Nidaa Tounès, around including the cleaving personality of the son of Béji Caid Essebsi, Hafedh, who climbs the ladder to the top of the party. In this conflict, a year ago, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed was laid off by the party. Youssef Chahed will finally split and will found Tahya Tounès on his side. Result: no more units within Nidaa Tounès.

This year, until the last day of the campaign, there were no less than eight candidates from or near his ranks for this presidential election. But just before the electoral silence, two of them rallied to Defense Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi , the candidacy formally supported by the party but which clearly did not win the support of Tunisians.

► To read also: Tunisia: Nidaa Tounes on the verge of implosion?

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