Today, candidates Beji Caid Essebsi and Moncef Marzouki will launch their campaigns in the final run-off for the presidency. With election day officially set for December 21, the candidates have exactly eleven days to sway the votes in their favor before the day of electoral silence on the 20th. Separated by only 6% in the last round of elections, the run-off between the candidates is expected to be close.
Over the past weeks political parties have announced who they will support in the last leg of the presidential race. Slim Riahi’s Free Patriotic Union (UPL) – the third-largest party in parliament with 16 seats – announced their support for Essebsi last week. Meanwhile, smaller parties such as the Democratic Current and Wafa Party, both of which were formerly a part of Marzouki’s Congress for the Republic (CPR) party, announced their support for Marzouki. Two of the country’s biggest parties, the Popular Front and Ennahdha, as well as Tayyar Al Mahaba (English: Love Current), have not endorsed any candidates, preferring to remain neutral and let their members make their own decisions.
The last elections revealed a north-south divide between Essebsi and Marzouki, with Essebsi claiming the majority of votes in the North while Marzouki comfortably conquered the South. The two contenders are expected to try and break this divide. They will also need to focus on winning over the votes of the younger Tunisian population which was largely missing in the last round of elections.
Louis Bonhoure
Source: http://www.tunisia-live.net/2014/12/09/second-round-presidential-campaig...
oday, candidates Beji Caid Essebsi and Moncef Marzouki will launch their campaigns in the final run-off for the presidency. With election day officially set for December 21, the candidates have exactly eleven days to sway the votes in their favor before the day of electoral silence on the 20th. Separated by only 6% in the last round of elections, the run-off between the candidates is expected to be close.
Over the past weeks political parties have announced who they will support in the last leg of the presidential race. Slim Riahi’s Free Patriotic Union (UPL) – the third-largest party in parliament with 16 seats – announced their support for Essebsi last week. Meanwhile, smaller parties such as the Democratic Current and Wafa Party, both of which were formerly a part of Marzouki’s Congress for the Republic (CPR) party, announced their support for Marzouki. Two of the country’s biggest parties, the Popular Front and Ennahdha, as well as Tayyar Al Mahaba (English: Love Current), have not endorsed any candidates, preferring to remain neutral and let their members make their own decisions.
The last elections revealed a north-south divide between Essebsi and Marzouki, with Essebsi claiming the majority of votes in the North while Marzouki comfortably conquered the South. The two contenders are expected to try and break this divide. They will also need to focus on winning over the votes of the younger Tunisian population which was largely missing in the last round of elections.
- See more at: http://www.tunisia-live.net/2014/12/09/second-round-presidential-campaig...
Second Round Presidential Campaign Kicks Off
By Louis Bonhoure | Dec 9 2014 
Beji Caid Essebsi ,Moncef Marzouki ,Slim Riahi
Tunisians walk past presidential election posters in downtown Tunis. Photo Credit: Louis Bonhoure
Today, candidates Beji Caid Essebsi and Moncef Marzouki will launch their campaigns in the final run-off for the presidency. With election day officially set for December 21, the candidates have exactly eleven days to sway the votes in their favor before the day of electoral silence on the 20th. Separated by only 6% in the last round of elections, the run-off between the candidates is expected to be close.
Over the past weeks political parties have announced who they will support in the last leg of the presidential race. Slim Riahi’s Free Patriotic Union (UPL) – the third-largest party in parliament with 16 seats – announced their support for Essebsi last week. Meanwhile, smaller parties such as the Democratic Current and Wafa Party, both of which were formerly a part of Marzouki’s Congress for the Republic (CPR) party, announced their support for Marzouki. Two of the country’s biggest parties, the Popular Front and Ennahdha, as well as Tayyar Al Mahaba (English: Love Current), have not endorsed any candidates, preferring to remain neutral and let their members make their own decisions.
The last elections revealed a north-south divide between Essebsi and Marzouki, with Essebsi claiming the majority of votes in the North while Marzouki comfortably conquered the South. The two contenders are expected to try and break this divide. They will also need to focus on winning over the votes of the younger Tunisian population which was largely missing in the last round of elections.
- See more at: http://www.tunisia-live.net/2014/12/09/second-round-presidential-campaig...
