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Nidaa Tounes to nominate Al Sebsi as presidential candidate

May 19, 2014 at 8:44 am

The Nidaa Tounes (Call for Tunisia) Party, the political wing of the Nidaa Tounis Movement, announced Sunday it will hold internal elections in June to elect the party’s leaders. It also confirmed it will nominate its founder Beji Caid Al Sebsi as a presidential candidate.

The decision came following an “extraordinary meeting” held by the executive bureau of the party on Sunday, chaired by Al Sebsi.

The bureau issued a press release announcing its decision to hold the founding conference for NT party next June 15, coinciding with the second anniversary of the launch of the movement.

The statement confirmed that Al Sebsi is the only candidate of the party.

According to media reports, the party is currently witnessing internal rifts between its different wings regarding its presidential candidate who is expected to face off with the Islamist Al-Nahda movement’s candidate. The party includes among its members liberals, leftists as well as former affiliates of the ousted Ben Ali regime.

Members of the party are particularly concerned about the appointment of Al Sebsi’s son as chairman of the Structures and Mobilization department in the party, which triggered accusations that Al Sebsi is eventually seeking to hand over leadership to his son.