Mr. Moncef Cheikhrouhou This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. "Tunisia's First Contested Presidential Elections" (October 1999)

   www.mepc.org/forums/special/99 - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/24/1999   Last Visited: 5/11/2002

   Mamoun Fandy, Moncef Cheikhrouhou, Robert H. Pelletreau
   ...
   Moncef Cheikhrouhou, director general, Assabah Newspaper
   
   It is a unique opportunity for me to come here from Tunis on the eve of the first contested presidential elections - and on the eve of the second or third multi-partisan parliamentary elections that take place the same day - and share with you some opinions from the standpoint of an independent press group in Tunisia.
   
   The independent press group that I represent has been there for about half a century. It was started by my late father, who believed that an independent, patriotic press had a role to play in the independence of Tunisia, when it was trying to get out from under French colonial power, and in the building of the modern state right afterward. To the very end of his life, he believed that the press had an important role to play in a democratic transition.
   
   ...
   Mr. Cheikhrouhou: In Tunisia, there has been a tendency to treat these types of declarations at their own level and not link the best interests of the Tunisian people to declarations that could be aimed only at domestic objectives, although they were aired on international satellite television in the hope that people would come to correct themselves. We did not want to pour oil on the fire. But our French-language newspaper, Le Temps, reminded people of some realities in a very polite article that has been read by the Algerian president - he commented on it to visitors later. We did not want to go any further, because we think that the cultural roots of the two peoples, the interests of the area, the interests of the Arab nation, lie not in answering in bad temper, but in playing it cool and proposing more exchanges with our neighbors. As a press group, we are ready to do our duty: to be the watchdog for our country's transition to democracy.
   
   ...
   Mr. Cheikhrouhou: The party in power is the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD). There are six opposition parties, and, by law, the leading party cannot gain more than 80 percent of the seats, even if it were to draw 100 percent of the votes. Twenty percent of the seats would be allotted to the opposition candidates, according to a partial proportional rule. I will briefly describe the six parties. The Communist party participated in the very first pluralistic election in Tunisia right after independence in 1959.