Presidential election in Tunisia: cooking contest encourages rural women to vote

special envoy to Tunisia

A couscous against the abstention of Tunisian voters? This is the principle of Voticook, a workshop organized by the association Tunisia Youth Impact. On the eve of the second round of the Tunisian presidential election, scheduled for Sunday, October 13, she is organizing a cooking contest in Echamine, a small village located about twenty kilometers south of Tunis.

Tunisia Youth Impact aims to mobilize voters. A priesthood in a country where the first round of presidential and legislative elections were marked by low turnout - respectively 48.98% and 41.32%. With the Voticook, the association tries to sensitize rural populations, especially women, to the importance of voting.

A vote replicating that of the presidential

"It's a repeat vote," says Wafa Tarhouni, president of the association. "It's a competition between a certain number of women who will compete with their flat-program to get elected by the voters who participate in the meal."

President Wafa Tarhouni explains the principle of the workshop which aims to sensitize rural women to vote # f24 pic.twitter.com/eqF82VWXlK

Voters list, voting booth, sealed urn ... The volunteers of Tunisia Youth Impact strive to respect all the details allowing the secrecy of the vote. Only concession to the real conditions: the inkwell in which the voter has to dip his finger was replaced by a mixture of water and shampoo.

The contest of the day takes place at Hinda Jlass, in the concrete courtyard of his house, a two-story building half-built. In the midst of her four children and while preparing her couscous, she says: "This event is above all a way of getting together with women and the essential thing is to participate," she says. maternal smile on the lips.

A philosophy that this 50-year-old housewife plans to extend to democratic life as she slips a ballot into the ballot box for the second round of the presidential election. So far, however, she had voted only once in her life.

Under the watchful eye of the EU and Isie observers

At noon, volunteers from Tunisia Youth Impact disperse in the village and pick up the participants. Seven women are turning the space of a meal into candidates for the position of "cook of the president". Their program? Their best dish they are invited to present in a few words in front of an audience of fifty people.

One by one, the voters taste each dish: couscous mainly but also macaroni and a dish of rice, all decorated with salad "mechouia" or cupcakes with honey makroudh. Then, they vote by following the same process that will be repeated the next day. The volunteers of the association guide them and give them advice to prevent their participation being invalidated by a procedural flaw.

Stefan Ziegler, one of the observers from the European Union, who made the trip, as well as members of Isie, the Tunisian body that organizes the elections, follow the competition with a smile: "It's original and everything the world seems to be having fun. It can only be beneficial for the Tunisian democracy, "he says.

List of electors, inkstand (replaced by shampoo), voting booth and ballot box ...
today's poll mimics the true # f24 pic.twitter.com/FCDwWqDMoR

After the vote, place the count. The opportunity for volunteers to insist once again on the need for a transparent ballot but also to show the errors that can lead to the nullity of a vote: put a signature instead of a cross to choose his candidate for example.

Soon, a majority emerges for Najwa Jlass, the sister of the hostess: "I am obviously happy to have won," she says, a little moved by its popularity. "But what makes me happiest is to see our community come together like this," says the one who intends to vote "for real" the next day.

@ImpactTunisian insists on the need for the count to be transparent. She recalls that it is the role of observers from the EU, Isie but also journalists (wink in our direction) to ensure that pic.twitter.com/TN247zMEo7

A drop in the ocean?

The association Tunisia Youth Impact has obtained funding to contribute to the mobilization of voters in three governorates south of the capital Tunis: Ben Arous, Beja, Zaghouan. A titanic task for the 60 volunteers in the association: "Isie focuses on observing the smooth running of the elections but not on the mobilization", laments Aymen Saleh, 36 years old and spokesperson of the young association. "We are the only association involved in these three governorates."

In the first round of September 15, Tunisia Youth Impact estimates that it has helped mobilize 350 households, or about a thousand people. For the legislative elections of October 6, they evaluate their impact to 564 households and about 1,500 people. A drop of water, of course, but which helps to nourish and consolidate the exercise of democracy in Tunisia.