NEW POLITICAL PARTY AUTHORIZED IN TUNISIA; CRITICS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000584 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/MAG (WLAWRENCE) E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM TS SUBJECT: NEW POLITICAL PARTY AUTHORIZED IN TUNISIA; CRITICS DOUBT ITS INDEPENDENCE REF: TUNIS 311 Classified By: DCM David Ballard for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On March 3, Tunisian authorities authorized the establishment of the "Green Party for Progress" (French acronym is PVP),the first new political party created since ¶2002. Although President Ben Ali recently said new parties would be registered (reftel),the rapid approval of a previously unknown group was nonetheless surprising. The party's head, Mongi Khamassi, requested the required authorization from the Ministry of Interior less than four months ago, while other party and NGO applications have been stalled for years. Included in this group is the unregistered "Green Tunisia" party, headed by Abdelkader Zitouni, who charges that the GOT "stole" his party from him to dilute its support and activities. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) The largely government-controlled Tunisian press reported March 4 that a new environment-focused political party, the Green Party for Progress (PVP),had been authorized March 3. While a welcome development in theory, the move surprised and outraged some, since the party's new head, Secretary General Mongi Khamassi (a deputy and in fact a founding member of the "loyal opposition" Social Liberal Party) received GOT permission to establish the party in less than four months while other parties and NGOs wait for years without word on their applications. According to Abdelkader Zitouni, an independent who formed the still unrecognized "Green Tunisia" party, GOT authorities orchestrated the creation of Khamassi's party to capitalize on his work and divert support from his own organization. Zitouni told us that in his view the GOT had "stolen" his party, but he had little legal recourse. He said he believed the move came after some members of the new Chamber of Advisers (the upper house of Parliament) suggested the need for a Green party in Tunisia to the Chamber President, Abdallah Kallel. Kallel reportedly agreed to take the issue to Ben Ali, and Zitouni suspects that after Kallel got Ben Ali's approval, officials at the Ministry of Interior encouraged Khamassi, known to be generally loyal to the President, to take on the task of forming a party. When reached by phone, Khamassi told an embassy employee that even he was surprised at the speed with which the PVP was authorized; he said they had not even found office space or written a charter. ¶3. (SBU) In interviews published in the local press, Khamassi has expressed appreciation for President Ben Ali's "commitment" to the democratic process and said his party's objective is to "preserve the environment and reinforce development." He said the party's political bureau includes three women and that the party could not be characterized as either "left" or "right." Khamassi added in one interview, published in the popular Arabic daily "ash-Shourouq," that he wanted to "maintain good ties with the authorities on the basis of respect and dialogue." In a veiled reference to Zitouni and his "Green Tunisia" party, Khamassi said in the French daily Le Temps that he knew there were "others who claim to be environmentalists" but said the PVP was open to all those who "believe in our ideals and want to work in a legal framework." ¶4. (C) COMMENT: As is often the case in Tunisian political life, this recent development has both positive and negative aspects. Registration of new political parties has been an issue we have raised specifically with the GOT in our human rights and democracy dialogue. In addition, the establishment of a new political entity of any kind creates some dynamism in what is generally a staid political landscape here; for example, the party has reportedly attracted some solid members who were heretofore not active politically. On the other hand, Tunisia already has seven legal opposition parties, five of whom are considered generally loyal to the ruling RCD; the other two are not represented in Parliament. It is too soon to tell how the PVP could affect the balance; Khamassi's public statements make fairly clear that whatever environmental advocacy the party undertakes will be in the context of the ruling RCD mechanism (i.e. "within the legal framework"),and thus unlikely to be a groundbreaking organization. HUDSON