Sports and politics .. What clubs are encouraged by presidential candidates in Tunisia?

The rise of candidates Kais Said and Nabil Karoui to the second round of the Tunisian presidential elections is not without its sports side of the disparity and conflict of the affiliations, while recognizing the importance of the role of sport in motivating voters belonging to clubs with large masses.

Villager and African
The villager, who came into the spotlight after investing in the media, comes from the governorate of Bizerte (north of the Tunisian capital), and after he was a fan of the CA Bizerte at an early age, while he took command of his TV channel, Karoui revealed his support for the African club. 2010 with the team of a new door in the search for ways to partner the broadcasting of the matches of the club in the preliminary rounds of the African Champions League exclusively, with the broadcast of a special television supporters of the club.

Nesma Hassan Al-Waer, a media reporter, revealed that influential players in the African club presented Nabil Karoui as a candidate for the presidency of the club in 2016.There were talks and meetings between him and the decision makers in the new Bab team, but the financial difficulties experienced by the team prevented reaching an agreement.

Al-Waer told Al Jazeera Net that Karoui is very popular among CAF fans especially, followed by the African Club, nicknamed the People's Club, where he managed to gather 45,000 voters around him, topping the list of the governorate of Bizerte, and also obtained important results in the capital Tunis.

Karoui's sporting popularity did not depend on Benzarti and Africans. The president of the coastal star Reda Charafeddine, a leader of the "Heart of Tunisia" party, was one of the most prominent players in the campaign for Nabil Karoui's candidate in the presidency.

Happy Phenomenon
Qais Said managed to capture the largest percentage of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections. The "apparent candidate" did not reveal his affiliation before the campaign, but social media pioneers indicated that he belonged to the Tunisian club leader Esperance.

"When I was a student and studied the constitutional law of my teacher Qais Said, and when he was referring to the study of the elements of the state, he cited Esperance as an example," Tunisian journalist Hamza al-Bloumi told Shams FM radio.

The pages of Esperance fans on Facebook carried a statement Bloumi, and some of them called for the selection of Said instead of the villager in the next bilateral race.

Perhaps the political and sporting derby between the rural and Said candidates will see more interaction in the next few days in the second round of presidential elections, especially as the supporters of the two teams and the traditional rivals Esperance and Africa promise millions.

Most of Tunisia's former presidents disclosed their sporting affiliations. The late President Béji Caid Essebsi was a supporter of Esperance, held administrative positions in the team, and the late Habib Bourguiba, while the late Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was known as a fan of the Etoile du Sahel. Dr. Moncef Marzouki, who headed the country after the revolution, denies his interest in the world of round witch.