Mohammed Ghannouchi party is to Beji Caid Essebsi, 84, returns as the heavy task of leading the transition in Tunisia. It was named Sunday as Prime Minister by the Tunisian president Acting Fouad Mebazaa.
Vincent Geisser, a researcher at the Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim world (IREMAM / CNRS), met the new head of government in the early 2000s, as part of his research. He said his appointment should not fully satisfy those who demanded the departure of Mohammed Ghannouchi.The researcher believes, however, that by pushing him to leave office, advocates a "radical democracy" have scored a point over a line of defenders and technocratic moderate.
France24.com - Who is the new Prime Minister of Tunisia, Beji Caid Essebsi?
Vincent Geisser - A man from a prominent aristocratic family of Tunisia, but who, from his early youth, has chosen the struggle for independence. Beji Caid Essebsi is the prototype of the young part of the neo-Destour was quickly noticed by President Habib Bourguiba [father of independence and first president of the Tunisian Republic, ed].Very young, he is entrusted with important responsibilities: he was appointed interior minister [in 1965], and later Minister of Foreign Affairs [in 1981]. At the time, he plays a mediating role between the hardliners of the party and the Liberal Movement of Social Democrats [MDS].
Beji Caid Essebsi was never part of the clan close Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was neither a hawk nor a fanatic of the old regime. But he had his card Constitutional Democratic Rally [RCD, the party of Ben Ali]. However, it was a symbolic role in the training.
It has a picture of a man liberal, moderate, cosmopolitan, French ...It is also an experienced lawyer and a man of law.
F24 - His appointment does satisfy those who demanded the resignation of Mohammed Ghannouchi?
VG - Beji Caid Essebsi can embody a balance between continuity and rupture. He belonged to the three systems: the Bourguiba, Ben Ali and that of it belongs to the current system. But his profile remains profound sociological shift with those young people who started the revolution. Beji Caid Essebsi has 84 years while they are part of the new generation is Tunisians although they originate from inside the country and is an aristocrat while they are poor ...
F24 - The resignation of Mohammed Ghannouchi she plunges further the transition process at an impasse?
VG - No, it should not be pessimistic.Tunisia seeks and hesitating between two options. There is a side option for a technocratic smooth transition, where the custody of members of the former regime gradually integrating new elements. And then there's the camp of radical democracy, which promotes the breakdown and demanded the establishment of a Constituent Assembly that would lead to the rapid development of a new constitution before holding elections. This line is peaceful but claimed that social policies are quickly put in place to address inequalities.
The option technocratic, played by Mohammed Ghannouchi, failed. The most radical have scored points, but the only problem is that this coalition of Democrats is very eclectic.There are elites in the opposition, such as Marzouki [a historical opponent to Ben Ali] or Mustapha Ben Jaffar [Secretary General of the Democratic Forum for Labour and Freedoms], the union's General Union Workers in Tunisia [UGTT], youth who started the revolution, bourgeois Tunis, members of the extreme left ... The street was right government of compromise, but in front there, for now, no real political coalition structure.
F24 - Should we fear a division between those who, within the population, want a radical and those who advocate a technocratic transition?
VG - No, because everyone is in favor of breaking with the old regime and the adoption of a new constitution.These are opinions shared many of the young Sidi Bouzid Sidi Bou Said bourgeois. Mohammed Ghannouchi's resignation proves that there is a true democratic will and that those in power respond to the street. The Prime Minister's speech was retiring very reassuring: he said he would not be an obstacle to the democratic process ... It is the antithesis of speech by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi!
The transition process is uncertain, there are still many question marks, but we are far from the chaos. Public functions, the administration works ... It is no longer the old regime, and it is not anarchy either. There is simply a power struggle between the democratic logic and technocratic logic.
