Tunisia: Nidaa Tounes and Ennahda alliance 'over'

On Wednesday, the official spokesman for Nidaa Tounes, Mongi Harbaoui, confirmed that the alliance between his party and Ennahda Movement is over.

Commenting on the triumph of Ennahda Movement candidate Souad Abderrahim to the mayoralty of Tunis, Harbaoui told local radio station Shems FM that “Democracy means accepting the result of the elections… We congratulate her on winning (…) There is a great significance in that an Islamic party wins to the position of mayor of Tunis, though we were hoping that the position would go for a modern democratic party.”

Harbaoui said out that “Ennahda Movement had consultations with the Popular Front (opposition party) among others. He added that they “had reservations about the Ennahda Movement’s campaign in the election.” He explained so saying: “Ennahda Movement had an alliance with the opposition parties in Tunis Municipality so that it could win the position of mayor of Tunis.”

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The official spokesman for Nidaa Tounes acknowledged that there are several reasons for his party’s loss in a number of municipalities.

He explained that people’s reluctance to participate in the elections is among the reasons. He gave the example of the municipality of Tunis, where “only 85,000 people out of a total of 325,000 registered people have actually participated in the elections and 5,000 cancelled papers were in favour of Nidaa Tounes.”

He went on: “Among the other reasons is that Nidaa Tounes movement has been exposed to media harassment by some outlets and some measures that the government has taken”.

He also pointed out that “Nidaa Tounes is facing off against the machine of Ennahda Movement, which has money, materials, equipment and organisation.”

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The leader in Nidaa Tounes stressed that “the fragmentation of the modern and contemporary democratic spectrum has produced such results.”

Few weeks after its defeat in the partial elections in the electoral circle of Germany, Nidaa Tounes party announced the end of the alliance with Ennahda Movement.