In Tunisia, we are moving towards "a radical transformation of the political landscape"

All observers recognize it: the young people voted en masse for Kaïs Saïed, during the presidential election of 13 October in Tunisia. "They carry another reading of the situation of Tunisia and intend to overcome the polarization Islamists / anti-Islamists", Analysis in an interview with franceinfo Afrique Larbi Chouikha, Professor at the Institute of Press and Information Science (IPSI) of the University of Manouba in Tunis. A specialist in the media, he is also a political scientist.

franceinfo Africa : how do you feel about the political situation in your country today? ?

Larbi Chouikha: oThere is a radical transformation of the political landscape. The ruling class of 2011 is losing momentum. It pays the price of the absence of reforms or the failure of reforms, in the face of the social and territorial divide (disparities between coastal regions and the interior), poverty, endemic corruption. In the same way, successive governments have not been able to initiate real reforms in the media, justice, and education sectors.

What about, for example, in your sector, the media sector?

Before the 2011 revolution, we were in a situation of lockdown going back to independence in 1956. In 2011, we moved to complete freedom. A freedom to which journalists were neither professionally nor politically prepared. Governments then instead developed legal norms : media regulation. In my opinion, it would have been necessary to initiate reforms within the companies, transparency, editorial line, separation administration-writing …

There are also other problems, such as the advertising market that only supports four or five TV channels. And this, while the audiovisual landscape consists of 13 channels : 11 private, two public. In Ben Ali's time, there were two private televisions Hannibal and Nessma (whose leader is Nabil Karoui, unfortunate candidate in the second round of the presidential election against Kaïs Saïed, Ed) and two or three radios, including Mosaic (very much listened to by young people, Ed).

The regulatory body, the Independent High Authority for Audiovisual Communication, HAICA (created in 2013, Ed), then asked all these companies to comply with the new regulations. Two chains refused : Nessma TV and Zitouna TV, close to Ennahdha. The authorities turned a blind eye.

Nessma belongs to Nabil Karoui, candidate for the second round …

You have to know who Nabil Karoui is. He came to build his media, his charity, his party Qalb Tounes (Heart of Tunisia), playing on all the contradictions offered by the system. He somehow built his anti-system career inside the system. He is one of the founders of the former majority party Nidaa Tounes. He initiated the famous meeting of the Bristol Hotel in Paris in 2013 between (former president) Beji Caid Essebsi and the leader of Ennahdha Rached Ghannouchi.

At the same time, he knew how to use poverty. He played on the sensitive fiber trying to fill the gaps of the State in the disadvantaged regions. It is, therefore, a sort of revealer of the problems. It comes back to the lack of reforms, it would have taken a bold power to lead them. These elections are therefore a popular sanction addressed to the entire political class.

And Kaïs Saïed?

It's a teacher who had never shone until then. He is not from the system. He followed another route. He built himself. He played on volunteering, political activism. He is more anti-system than Karoui. In his project, he insists on the role of the regions. For him, the real power must be exercised by local councils.

It is particularly followed by young people …

Yes. The young people are interested in him because Kaïs Saïed answers some questions they ask themselves. They have another reading of Tunisia and intend to go beyond the Islamist / anti-Islamist polarization. To know him better, he must be interested in those who advise him. They have nothing to do with the traditional political class. Among them, we find in particular identity and sovereignists who claim, for example, that there would have been a secret agreement (between Tunisia and France, Ed) on salt before colonization (now after Tunis in the dependence of Paris, Ed). There are also many young people from Arab nationalist movements. For his part, he advocates national sovereignty. He is conservative in religious matters.

During the debate before the second round, on October 10, he was much more at ease than Karoui. It gave the impression of being very weak, a little frivolous, of lacking consistency, of being able to say something and its opposite. Faced with journalists and specific questions, he lost his compass. For me, this debate was the coup de grace.

How do you see more ?

I am a little skeptical. The new president is not sure of getting a parliamentary majority. It is the Constitution that will decide. And if there is a conflict between Parliament and the President, there will be new elections. We are in a totally new situation. With, as I have just said, the sanction addressed to the political class, the probable advent of a new elite carrying other values. It's the popular choice, it's democracy. We must see that on January 14, 2011, we came out of a phase of authoritarianism with the absence of a true democratic culture. For it to be generalized, it takes time and stability.