TUNISIA PRE-ELECTION SNAPSHOT: SFAX AND SOUSSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000741 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/MAG (HAYES) AND DRL (JOHNSTONE) LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2019 TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM PREL TS SUBJECT: TUNISIA PRE-ELECTION SNAPSHOT: SFAX AND SOUSSE REF: A. TUNIS 725 ¶B. TUNIS 694 ¶C. TUNIS 557 ¶D. TUNIS 388 ¶E. TUNIS 167 Classified by: Ambassador Gordon Gray for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Meetings with opposition leaders and ordinary Tunisians in Sfax and Sousse, Tunisia's second and third largest cities, indicate a high degree of apathy with respect to the October 25 presidential and legislative elections. Opposition figures from the Tajdid ("Renewal") party complained of increased GOT interference compared to 2004. Ordinary citizens, when asked about the elections, responded with a mixture of nonchalance, fear, and cynicism. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) A visit to Sfax offers an alternative view of Tunisia, a city unadorned and poorly maintained but with a thriving commercial and industrial base. Compared to Tunis, Sfax is dusty, crumbling, and dull. Visitors to Sfax are primarily business travelers, including numerous Libyans who make the half-day drive from Tripoli for commerce or to seek medical treatment. The poor infrastructure lends credence to Sfaxians' complaints that they are ignored by Tunis despite their city's strong contribution to the national budget. Sousse, Tunisia's third city and a tourist hub, is relatively sophisticated, prosperous, and well-maintained. Its eighth-century medina and large tourist zone, full of European tourists and curio salesmen even in late September, surround a colonial-era city replete with a school of fine arts and a freshly-painted Catholic church. -------------- Opposition Embattled and Pessimistic -------------- ¶3. (C) Emboff met in Sfax and Sousse with officials from the Tajdid ("Renewal") Party, a secularist and center-left offshoot of Tunisia's former communist party. The Government of Tunisia's (GOT's) rejection of Tajdid electoral lists (see ref A),in addition to ever-tighter restrictions on party activity, have deflated Tajdid's hopes of retaining its current three parliamentary seats. ¶4. (C) Thameur Driss, a Tajdid legislator from Sfax since 1999, is among the most outspoken critics of the GOT in the Chamber of Deputies. He has faced harassment over the years: in 2002, his car was rammed twice by a police van several hours after he delivered a speech accusing GOT officials of corruption. In another instance, someone broke into his home, dumped all his clothing onto the sidewalk, and stole a medallion that had been presented to Driss and other legislators by President Ben Ali. He believes the GOT intercepts his phone calls, SMS messages, and letters. This week, the Constitutional Council rejected the electoral list containing his name (it rejected more than half of Tajdid's lists),effectively ending his hopes of winning a third legislative term. ¶5. (C) Mohamed Kallel, a professor of pharmacy at the University of Monastir, is running on the Tajdid ticket for a legislative seat in nearby Sousse. Although the list containing his name was accepted by the Constitutional Council, Kallel holds out no hope for victory on October 25. GOT restrictions on opposition party activities have left him little room for maneuver, and he is legally prohibited from distributing leaflets without GOT approval. Both Driss and Kallel claim that this year's election is marked by tighter GOT control and interference than the elections of 2004. ¶6. (C) Tajdid's platform, as expressed by Driss and Kallel, is focused on what it perceives to be increasing GOT corruption, concentration of power, politicization of the judiciary, economic intervention, restrictions on expression and association, and a regression from past gains in women's rights and secularism. Tajdid calls for the GOT to engage in dialogue with opposition, allow civil liberties, and reclaim the "Tunisian modernity" and strict secularism first put in place in the 1950s by President Bourguiba. -------------- -------------- Other Tunisian Voices: Cynicism, Fear, and Covert Radicalism -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) In Sfax and Sousse, the atmosphere does nothing to suggest that presidential and legislative elections are less than a month away. There are no campaign posters or banners, with the exception of some extra decorations and flags on government buildings. ¶8. (SBU) Asked about the upcoming elections, local residents expressed no hope for change in their government. A taxi driver in Sfax said the October 25 would be a "normal" day because Ben Ali would certainly win. Tunisians were willing to criticize the government-controlled press, but were less willing to directly engage in discussion of political issues. When asked his opinion on the elections, one patron at a coffee shop became visibly nervous and abruptly changed the subject to soccer. ¶9. (SBU) A second-year business student at a public university in Sousse told Emboff that on the campus, students there enjoyed a slightly more open political environment, though student activists were harassed and sometimes beaten or arrested by police. The opposition political current, according to this student, is of a far-left variety (the student said his friends were influenced by Che Guevara). To this group, none of the current presidential candidates held any appeal. In addition to revolutionary politics, this Sousse student and his friends were greatly influenced by political Islam and by solidarity with the Palestinian cause. The student questioned Emboff on U.S. policy toward Israel, avowed he would never visit the United States until its Middle East policy changed, and said he was willing to "shed blood in Palestine" if called to do so. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) This visit to Tunisia's second and third cities revealed an overwhelming nonchalance toward the elections, mixed with fear, frustration, and cynicism among interested observers. The GOT's heavy interference in the political process, including the Constitutional Council's rejection of electoral lists containing key opposition names, has dashed Tajdid's hopes for victory in the Sfax and Sousse areas. For most people in Tunisia's commercial and tourist centers, "normal" life will continue, mostly unchanged, after October ¶25. End comment. GRAY