Most Tunisian parties, whether government or opposition, have called for a national dialogue and stressed the importance of reaching an agreement in this critical stage of democratic transition. Such calls have raised many questions regarding their seriousness and purpose.

Are these calls true, thus articulating a willingness to get out of the bottleneck in which Tunisia is stuck? Or are they just calls for media consumption with the aim of “time gaining” by the Islamic Ennahda Party in order to penetrate state bodies?

Most Tunisian parties, whether government or opposition, have called for a national dialogue and stressed the importance of reaching an agreement in this critical stage of democratic transition. Such calls have raised many questions regarding their seriousness and purpose.

Are these calls true, thus articulating a willingness to get out of the bottleneck in which Tunisia is stuck? Or are they just calls for media consumption with the aim of “time gaining” by the Islamic Ennahda Party in order to penetrate state bodies?

Given the intricate political scene and the complexities of the facts of the ground, such questions cannot be answered with a yes or a no. The intricate political scene appears clear by the severe disputes among political actors, which have gone beyond the political competition toward collision. Reportedly, this collision is sometimes based on the conflict between ‘believers’ and ‘secularists-modernists’ or between the ‘revolution forces’ and ‘counter-revolution’, while at other times it is based on fighting the return of the (Constitution Democratic Rally) DCR – the ruling party under Ben Ali – and cleansing the country of its followers.

The absence of a clear rule to distinguish between political actors in government and opposition, has made the conflict between them move from one ring to another, with political violence held at the same level of discourse.

Political violence on par with discourse

Practices of this political violence have included impeding caucuses, attacking the headquarters of political parties and unions, and even murdering an activist of Call for Tunisia Movement – the party of the former Prime Minister, Beji Caid el Sebsi – in Tataouine city, southern Tunisia, in addition to the 600 attacks against the security forces during the last three months, the majority of which have been committed by the Salafist Jihadi current.

Facts on the ground are not quite void of complexity. Although sectarian strikes, sit-ins, road blocks and protests are centered in the interior regions historically known for being deprived and marginalized (central, southwestern and northwestern Tunisia), they take place almost all over the country.

The government and the Troika parties deal with these protests as being politically motivated and exploited by the ‘former regime remnants’ who attempt to confuse the government in order to topple it. Contrarily, the opposition and the civil society see them as a normal result of the government’s failure to realize the revolution’s economic and social goals, and believe that the protestors demand employment and development, i.e. their right to a share of a revolution they were its fuel.

Menzel Bouzaiane City, Sidi Bouzid Governorate, is still the most prominent case in this regard. Protest forms have developed from demonstrations to sit-ins, hunger strikes and road blocks because the government has not paid attention to their development and employment demands.

Within this climate and in this critical stage of democratic transition, debate and national dialogue initiatives focus on agreement and national unity.

Barriers to unity

In fact, the political scene’s intricacy, complexities of the facts on the ground, and the reasons hindering the building of a real base of agreement, are deeper and more significant than the intentions to reach an agreement and the calls for unity.

The absence of agreement can be interpreted on the ground, and also through the relationship among political parties, since this debate is carried out in a political climate characterized by:

• No clear framework for the national dialogue between political actors and the various interveners in the national affairs. The Troika government has never been desirous for reviving this framework despite repeated calls.
• Escalated political disputes with the approaching date of the elections, to be held after the constitution is formulated.
• The variant evaluation of the Troika’s ruling period. While the opposition describes it as a failure, since the government has been unable to deal with the revolution’s most important dues, the government considers itself as being subject to role and action, hindering and to conspiracies aiming at toppling it.

Prior to any agreement with the ruling Troika, the opposition requires many demands, including the Ennahda Party and its allies’ waiver of sovereign ministries, especially those of interior and justice, to independent figures; the establishment of independent bodies of information, justice and elections; the scheduling of a final and agreeable date for the coming election; and the agreement on the constitution’s essential pillars, like the nature of the political regime and a civil state.

This debate is held in a social and economic climate characterized by vulnerability and disorder. In addition to continuous disorders and sit-ins, especially in interior regions, reports suggest difficult economic conditions that need a climate of security and settlement to recover and grow.

Additionally, another important factor that can’t be ignored is violence in society and the clear difference between the opposition and the government in terms of interpreting its impulses and reasons and identifying the government’s responsibility for its spread, especially that violence has recently had significant impacts on Tunisia’s image abroad; attacking creative people and the USA Embassy incident, for example.

Calls for national dialogue and the importance of agreement may express the willingness of some political actors to go out of the bottleneck, or may be a card by other parties to ‘gain more time’ in order to acquire more empowerment, and we mean here, the Islamic Ennahda Party, which refuses to strictly deal with the Salafist violence as well as participate in the national dialogue initiative, which was called for by the General Tunisian Union and with the participation of  more than 50 political parties.