Who is Tunisia’s next president; “Jean-Jacques Rousseau” or “Nilson Mandela”?
The death of the Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi has given life to the democratic track of the country; one that is unprecedented in Tunisia’s political history.
After the death of Essebsi, the High Elections Authority announced holding early elections to be held on September 15, opening the door for candidates to run for president of Tunisia, which is a place of partisan and political conflicts that affected its security and economy.
26 candidates out of 100 remained megal for the mid-September elections day.
One of the candidates was media mogul Nabil Karaoui who heads Tunisia Heart Party and a charity that helps the poor. He was jailed on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, but the court has not delivered conviction for those charges agaisnt him, thus he remained a presidential candidate.
Two candidates: Tunisia Project Movement’s candidate Mohsen Murziq and Nidaa Tunis Movement’s candidate Salim Al-Riyahi left the race to support the independent candidate and former defense minister Abdelkarim Al-Zabidi.
On September 15, all Tunisians were surprised to see the independent candidate Kais Saied and the jailed media mogul Nabil Karaoui lead as first and second and advance to the second round after elections round 1 ended with 45% voting percentage.
The down-to-earth candidate that was compared to “Jean-Jacques Rousseau” for his popularity and ideology of a revolution for the people and for their own wellbeing, and the jailed media mogul who does a lot of charity work for the poor and was described by his loyalists as “Nilson Mandela” advanced to the runoff in October.
