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Representatives of Tunisian opposition parties abroad dub October elections undemocratic
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By
Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
September 30 (IslamOnline.net) - Three Tunisian opposition parties
have called on the Tunisian people to boycott the presidential and
legislative elections, slated for October 24.
Representatives
of three banned Tunisian opposition parties; “The Islamic
Renaissance Movement”, “The Tunisian Communist Labor Party” and
“The Congress for the Republic Party" told a forum in the
French capital Paris Tuesday, September 28, that voting in the
Tunisian elections in October would only help beautify the image of
the Tunisian ruling regime, adding the results are determined in
advance.
Tunisians
last May massively (99%) voted for amending the constitution to allow
Tunisian President Zine Al-Abdine Bin Ali, who has been in power since
1987, to stand for a fourth five-year mandate.
They
also voted to lift the age limit for Presidential candidates from 70
to 75, meaning 67-year-old Ben Ali could run again in 2008.
Under
the old constitution, the President was only allowed to remain in
office for three terms.
Deep
Crisis
Chairman
of the Islamic Renaissance Movement politburo said the October
elections are meaningless as their results are have already been set.
“Results
of the October elections are already pre-set,” said Amer Al-Arid.
He
further said freedoms of expression and belief are restricted in
Tunisia.
“The
country is living in a state of deep crisis, represented in the
restriction of public and individual liberties as well as freedoms of
expression and belief.”
“Thousands
of Tunisians live in exile, not to mention the political detainees in
the Tunisian jails.”
Al-Arid
hit out at the refusal of the Tunisian authorities to release the
Tunisian political prisoners.
“Senior
leaders of the Islamic Renaissance Movement have been in jail for over
a decade following the wide-scale security campaign in early 1990s
despite demands to give them amnesty.”
In
a July report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said dozens of Tunisian
political prisoners have been held for years in solitary confinement
as part of a
deliberate government strategy to crush the political
opposition.
Despotic
Regime
Al-Arid
hailed the stand of Dr. Al-Monsef Al-Marzouki, chairman of the
Congress for the Republic party who decided to return to Tunisia to
support the call to boycott the October elections.
Marzouki
has been living in exile in France for around three years.
Abdul
Wahab Moatar, deputy chairman of the Congress party, for his part,
said the ruling regime in Tunisia is despotic.
“The
Congress for the Republic party is convinced that the regime is a
hopeless case, hence no other option is left but to boycott the
elections and resist the ruling authority with peaceful means.”
The
Tunisian Communist Labor party said the coming elections would be held
in undemocratic atmosphere.
“The
presidential and legislative elections on October 24 lack the simplest
principles for holding fair and democratic elections,” according to
Adel Thabet, the party spokesman.
“The
elections would be held amid complete restriction of freedoms and
suppression, latest of which was the trial of a group of Tunisian
young people for accusations of logging on terrorist internet
sites.”
He
said the May 202 referendum, which the opposition parties called to
boycott, paved the road for a life presidency in for the current
President.
Deemed
to Fail
Tunisian
opposition parties at home, meanwhile, had said the Tunisian president
along with three opposition candidates would run for presidential
elections on October 24.
Observers
said the call of the opposition parties abroad to boycott the October
elections is deemed to fail as it lacks an action plan to gain success
due to the absence of tools to make changes in the Tunisian political
life, control of mass media by the ruling authority and the
restrictions imposed on opposition members.
They
further said the state of anticipation among the Tunisian people also
cast doubts on the success of the opposition call.
