New cracks threaten future of Nidaa Tounes
Nidaa Tounes held two parallel elections for leadership of its Central Committee, further cementing divisions within the partying ahead of legislative and presidential elections.
TUNIS — Soufien Toubal, leader of Nidaa Tounes' parliamentary bloc, on April 13 announced on Facebook that he had been elected president of the party’s Central Committee at a congress held in Hammamet. A day later in a statement to state television, Hafedh Caid Essebsi, son of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, announced that he had been elected to lead Nidaa Tounes’ Central Committee at a party congress held in Monastir.
Nidaa Tounes had convened an electoral congress in Monastir on April 6 — with President Essebsi, the founder of the party in attendance — to elect members of the party’s political bureau. Elections for a new head of its Central Committee would then follow. Interparty disputes erupted as soon as the results were announced for the political bureau.
The new list of 32 members included Toubal and the younger Essebsi. The majority of the newly elected members were backers of Toubal. At a press conference on April 11, members supporting Hafedh rejected the April 6 results, fearing the majority would support Toubal in the Central Committee elections.
Hafedh loyalists called for holding committee elections in Monastir on April 13, while Toubal loyalists insisted on the legitimacy of the results of the April 6 elections and called for a parallel congress in Hammamet on April 13. Thus the vote outcomes were preordained along with dueling claims of legitimacy.
