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).

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Summary
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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.

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Opposition Embattled and Pessimistic
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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.

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Other Tunisian Voices: Cynicism, Fear, and Covert Radicalism
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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.

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Comment
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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