the disinterest of young Tunisians for the presidential election of October 6

Mourad, Issam, Tasnime and Ayoub are between 20 and 25 years old. Resigned to seeing their living conditions and freedoms stagnate, they will not go to the polls to elect a new president on Sunday.

“When we find someone who cares about young people, then we will vote”. The message is clear. For Issam*, 25 years old, as for many young Tunisians, the presidential election of October 6 will not be an event. “For me politics is just another story, it’s superficial”sweeps away Tasnime, a 20-year-old Tunisian who wants to become a nurse. “No one interests me so I’m going to vote blank”indicates for his part Mourad, 21 years old.

However, when Kaïs Saïed ran in the 2019 early presidential election, he appealed to the country’s youth. In Tunisia, almost 45% of the population is under 30 years old. Faced with the elders of politics, this professor of constitutional law, appreciated by his students, stands out and promises a renewal in a Tunisia which has struggled to stabilize its economic and political situation since the revolution of 2011. Moreover, a few days after the first round, the former president on the run Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali dies in Saudi Arabia, a symbol that the old world and the dictatorship are really behind it.

Kaïs Saïed finally won his first election with 72.71% of the votes and Tunisian youth seem to have something to do with it. “Kaïs Saïed, the candidate of young Tunisians who want ‘change’,” title The World in between turns. “Young people voted for him in 2019 and supported him because he was extraordinary, analyzes Youssef Abid, teacher-researcher in public law at the faculty of legal, political and social sciences in Tunis. But this did not materialize in action. Besides, he had no proposals for young people, apart from being unusual”.

“I supported Kaïs Saïed’s campaign”, confirms Mourad even though he could not yet vote at the time. “It’s true that at the beginning, he was a hope for young people but then it deteriorated,” he said. For Youssef Abid, “LThe youth has given up especially since the coup of July 25, 2021 because there is a generational divide:Today’s young people have freedom as their red line and the narrowing of individual rights has been very significant since 2019”.

July 25, 2021, Kaïs Saïed carries out a constitutional coup by freezing the work of Parliament and dismissing the Prime Minister. The reason? To respond to citizens’ demands in the face of the impasse in parliamentary work, according to the president. If a part of Tunisians, including the youth, supports and trusts the president’s promises, arrests of activists, journalists, political opponents, dismissals and expulsions of foreigners will increase. Kaïs Saïed turns into an autocrat with decrees and the situation becomes complicated for individual rights “while, at the same time, the economic situation is not improving” specifies Youssef Abid. It was a cold shower for the youth that was behind him.

“Discussing with my friends, we said to ourselves that we will not vote because we will have no benefit to derive from this election”deplores Issam, who lives in Hammamet. An electrician by training, he struggles to find properly declared and paid work. However, its city teems with foreign tourists and wealthy Tunisians in the summer and attracts European retirees in the winter. He, in the middle of all this, cannot find a stable job that will allow him to build his life and enjoy his leisure time. “We are exploited and it is very hard to find a good job, he said. I make more money with TikTok lives, sitting in my chair”.

On Sunday October 6, while abstention is likely to be significant, that of young people will need to be closely monitored. “Expectations were so high [lors de l’élection de Kaïs Saïed] that the disappointment is great and this has caused a nonchalance among young Tunisians with regard to politics”, notes Youssef Abid, who also worked for Al Bawsala and Mourakiboun, two very active organizations in Tunisia which supervise political and parliamentary activity.

“This lack of interest among youth is a significant risk for the future of the country because the solutions for young people lie outside Tunisia. This dynamic makes society individualistic.”

Youssef Abid, legal consultant

at franceinfo

Indeed, leaving the country is on everyone’s mind, regardless of social class. “Yes, I’m thinking of going to Europe to find work, said Issam. But I live in the most beautiful country in the world, I would like to have political leaders who allow young people to live in dignified conditions here.” Mourad and Ayoub would also vote if a candidate proposed solutions “for unemployment, salaries and visas too”. “I just want to have the right to leave Tunisia and come back, just to travel, to discover things,” said Ayoub. He is 23 years old, lives in Kram, a town bordering La Goulette, near Tunis. He is involved in artistic and popular education associations and writes rap texts. “I try to write things that set a good example for young people”he said, dreaming of developing his art.

A fractured youth therefore, between those who cling to their hope and others who struggle or escape to avoid sinking. This is also what Rym, 33, is seeing on the ground. She works in the association where Ayoub volunteers: “Some young people from Generation Z have their eyes open and know what is happening, go to demonstrations but are still looking for solutions to leave Tunisia. And for the other part, who is not interested, it is total despair because for years nothing has changed. So why fight in a vacuum?”

Indeed, “there were a lot of young people at the demonstration [du vendredi 13 septembre à Tunis, pour la “défense des droits et libertés”]“, recalls Youssef Abid. Sign that “fear has not contaminated young people, so there will be a rebirth. This can be seen with the movements that are being created,” he said in reference to the “Tunisian network for the defense of rights and freedoms”, created at the beginning of September.