By Bineta DiagneRichard RiffonneauPosted on 11-10-2019Modified on 11-10-2019 at 02:46

The presidential campaign ends this Friday in Tunisia. The second round pits the academic Kais Saied, who obtained in the first round 18.4% of the vote, the businessman Nabil Karoui, with 15.58%. The context is very particular: the justice has released Nabil Karoui, who had been in detention since August 23 for money laundering and tax evasion.

The lassitude of the Tunisians begins to break. The economy is struggling to take off, public services are failing, unemployment is high and inflation is slashing the household basket. The concern of Tunisians is the improvement of their living conditions.

" I worked for 35 years at the Ministry of Youth, " said Abdel Tounes, a retired civil servant. I have to work in this restaurant to make ends meet. I have two sons : one is abroad because he works for the World Food Program ; the other is unemployed since 2014. He intends to leave because here there is no prospect for young people . "

→ Listen: Presidential election in Tunisia: what aspirations of young people?

In the first round of presidential elections, only 9% of young people aged 18 to 25 voted. For the sociologist Omar Zafouri, this may be due to educational issues. " As the age increases, the participation rate increases: 9% for the youngest, 33% for adults, and 57% for the oldest, says this sociology professor at the University of Sfax. This is explained to the Tunisian school: young people aged 18 to 25 are the product of the school of Ben Ali. It is a school that has not taught young people to reason, to think, to analyze. We have therefore trained young people who accept ready-made realities. It is an age group that is apolitized. "

→ Re-read: In Tunisia, "there is the feeling that a more efficient system is needed"

A thrilling end to the season

The end of the campaign was unusual, historic in a way, marked by controversy over the detention of one of the candidates, who was finally released. In fact, we have seen two completely different campaigns.

On the one hand, Kaïs Saied led a very discreet campaign, very little publicized. This former law professor seduces especially young people, intellectuals. He has the image of a " clean hands " person. " Kaïs Saied has almost excellent knowledge of human rights, justice, and the practice of law, " said one of his supporters. This is what the Tunisian people want. We can only say that this young man [61 years old, ed] is not corrupt . "

On the other hand, businessman Nabil Karoui traveled the country for three years. He led a grassroots campaign with the popular classes, distributing donations ... all these actions were relayed by his television channel, Nessma TV.

In the field, Nabil Karoui relies on young activists

" It was difficult because of the exceptional conditions of the campaign, said Issaoui Nouha, 27, elected to the Assembly to represent the governorate of Sidi Bouzid. Our leader was in prison. He was not with us during the first round of the presidential and legislative elections. It was not easy to travel to carry out our activities. We were alone, without money and without logistics. We financed the campaign ourselves. "

The release of Nabil Karoui a few days before the poll raises the dice ... since his release from prison is very enthusiastic.

It remains to be seen if the voters will move again to vote ... Between the presidential and legislative, this is the third time that Tunisians are called to the polls in the space of a month.

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