Interview with Secretary General of Tunisian Islamist party Hammadi Djebali (Photo: businessnews.com.tn)
Summary: Hammadi Jebali, the secretary general of the prominent Tunisian Islamist party Ennahdha, has announced that he is his party's candidate to "run the next government." In an interview with the Tunisian News Agency [TAP], Jebali attempted to reassure anxious non-supporters and business owners, insisting on coalition governance and rejecting modifications concerning the availability of alcohol and the status of women in the country.
Speaking on behalf of his party, Jebali affirmed that Tunisia's famously progressive Personal Status Code [Code du status personnel], which gives women a number of rights, will remain untouched. He further affirmed that there will be proposal for the legalization of polygamy nor for the imposition of the headscarf. He also insisted that "making women return to the home, [a rumor that] some enemies of the [Ennahdha] movement have tried to spread, is out of the question."
Concerning the society and economy, Jebali insisted on the importance of the tourism sector, saying, "Is it reasonable to paralyze a vital sector like tourism, by prohibiting alcoholic beverages and bathing suits, or other [such] practices? Those are individual liberties guaranteed for foreigners as well as for Tunisians." Jebali also emphasized Ennahdha's goals of equitable development between region and the reduction of joblessness.
Concerning the financial sector, Jebali responded to, as the journalist puts it, the "fears of certain businessmen," by denying "any intention to generalize Islamic banks or to abrogate the current financial system in Tunisia." These fears, Jebali said, "have no justification," as, on the contrary, the Tunisian financial system "will be supported through the widening [polarisation] of Arab and foreign investments."
Contrary to other rumors that the Ennahdha Movement will "impose a constitution [that will] [...] abrogate certain liberties," Jebali insisted that the new constitution will be written through "consensus with the other parties and partners represented within the Constituent Assembly." Jebali also affirmed that the constitution "will not backtrack on [revenir sur] any freedom but in the contrary will strive to consolidate them all."
In that aim, Jebali said that Ennahdha "will work in total cohesion with the other parties and will not oppose any proposition, notably a referendum on the constitution."
Jebali recognized that some who voted for Ennahdha in the recent elections wished to compensate Jebali for his militant activism and for the repression suffered for decades under two separate regimes.
Jebali called his nomination as PM standard, as Ennahdha won the largest amount of seats in the Constituent Assembly, by a significant margin, and "the secretary general of the party that wins the majority of votes, in all of the democracies of the world, occupies the post of head of government."
Jebali also named a handful of candidates from outside his party the post of president, including the heads of the two parties who followed Ennahdha in the recent elections: Moncef Marzouki of the Congress for the Republic and Mustapha Ben Jaafar of Ettakatol. Jebali also did not exclude the possibility that the post be proposed to the former transitional prime minister, Béji Caïd Essebsi.
Original Language Text:
Le secrétaire général du parti Ennahdha, Hammadi Jebali, a annoncé "être le candidat de son parti pour diriger le prochain gouvernement", relevant que "le secrétaire général du parti qui remporte la majorité aux élections, dans toutes les démocraties du monde, occupe le poste de chef de gouvernement".
Dans un entretien avec l'agence TAP, M. Jebali a souligné que le parti Ennahdha a aussi ses candidats à la présidence qu'il va proposer aux autres partenaires politiques représentés à l'assemblée nationale constituante.
Il a cité, à ce sujet, le secrétaire général d'Ettakattol (Forum démocratique pour le travail et les libertés -FDTL), Mustapha Ben Jaâfar et le président du Congrès pour la République (CPR), Moncef Marzouki, sans exclure que le poste de président soit également proposé au Premier ministre du gouvernement de transition, Béji Caïd Essebsi.
Hammadi Jebali considère, d'autre part, que "la victoire du mouvement Ennahdha avec un taux qui peut atteindre ou dépasser 50 pc des voix n'est pas un motif de satisfaction pour les militants du parti et sa direction", en raison du mode de scrutin à la proportionnelle, "qui n'est pas équitable dans la distribution des sièges."
Le secrétaire général d'Ennahdha a souligné, en outre, que le choix d'une partie importante du peuple tunisien reflète une grande confiance dans son programme et son action sérieuse pour le servir et pour remédier aux grands problèmes que connaissent certains secteurs. Il a approuvé certaines explications indiquant que ceux qui ont choisi Ennahdha ont voulu la récompenser pour son action militante et la répression qu'elle avait subie tout au long des dernières décennies de la part des deux précédents régimes.
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