Enahda nominates five candidates for Tunisia’s presidency

Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

The Tunisian Enahda Movement has nominated five names for its candidates in the presidential elections scheduled for mid-September, headed by Rachid Ghannouchi, as his candidacy is void according to the law.

The movement’s Shura Council met to discuss the party’s candidates for the upcoming presidential elections in Hammamet, east of Tunisia.

In a news conference on August 3, head of the Shura Council Abdel Kerim Al-Harouni pointed out that among the names are the Vice-President of the Nahdha Movement Ali Al-Arayed, the Interim People’s Assembly Speaker Abdel-Fattah Moro, the leader of the party Abdul Latif Al-Makki, and the Speaker of the Shura Council.

Despite this, Harouni stressed that the movement did not definitively resolve the name of its candidate, which could be outside the movement as a whole, noting that in this case, it will not be neutral in its choice, and will invite the person closest to the principles and objectives of the revolution and democracy.

Rashid Ghannouchi, head of the Nahdha movement, and Abdel Fattah Moro, head of the Tunisian parliament, head the list of speculations about the candidates for the Nahdha movement in the upcoming elections. Another group believes that the movement might push another candidate from abroad to avoid political pressure.

Difficult elections

The Tunisian state has been in a state of political shock since the death of the late President Béji Caid Essebsi on July 25, 2019, after he was the most prominent political figure in the Tunisian domestic scene, forcing the President of the Independent High Electoral Commission Nabil Pfoun to announce the holding of early presidential elections with the deadline for submission of candidature applications on August 9.

The candidate must be recommended by ten deputies in the People’s Assembly, forty heads of the elected local assemblies, or by 10,000 voters distributed across at least ten constituencies, at least 500 in each constituency.

Potential candidates

The party, the political arm of the Brotherhood in Tunisia, is expected to face fierce competition from the rest of the Tunisian parties. Long Live Tunisia party is expected to nominate its president and Tunisian Prime Minister Yousef Al-Shahid, while the Tunisian Call Party is reserving the name of its candidate, to be nominated for the son of Essebsi for this position.

Other candidates include Defense Minister Abdul Karim al-Zubaidi, Manji al-Rahawi of the United Democratic Nationalist Party, Mohamed Abbou of the Democratic Movement, Abeer Mousa of the Free Constitutional Party, and Latif al-Maraihi of the Republican People’s Union, as well as a number of activists and independents.

On the Ennahda candidates’ list of upcoming elections, Dr. Tarek Fahmy, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said in a statement to the Reference that the Tunisian parliament speaker Abdel Fattah Morou is the closest candidate, but the picture in the Tunisian scene is not yet clear.

Dr. Fahmi added that the Nahdha movement did not agree with the Shura Council on one candidate so far, both inside and outside the group. He pointed out that the decision may not be issued within the Council or the movement in Tunisia, but could be issued by the international organization of the Brotherhood group, especially since the group does not want to lose ground and political status in a new state, so the international organization can supervise itself on this issue.