Hamma Hammami, the official Spokesperson of the Popular Front and Secretary General of the Workers Party, speaks about his colleagues’ reaction to the new Constitution and the new government.

Hamma Hammami, the official Spokesperson of the Popular Front and Secretary General of the Workers Party, speaks about his colleagues’ reaction to the new Constitution and the new government. Hammami’s socialist and secularist movement was faced with several blows in 2013, most notably the assassinations of Mohamed Brahmi, the party’s leader and Chokri Belaid, former leader of the Democratic Patriot Movement, which belonged to the Front. While Hammami celebrates the recent progress made within the current technocrat government, he is wary of Ennahda’s continued influence and its potential to sway the upcoming elections.

Hamma Hammami, what is the Popular Front’s assessment of the new Tunisian Constitution?

The Popular Front perceives the agreed upon Constitution as an asset to the democratic and progressive forces, as well as Tunisian women and citizens in general, despite the fact that it contains several imperfections and flaws. This new Constitution has saved the democratic and civil aspect of the Tunisian State from the scheme of Ennahda Movement to establish a totalitarian state based on religion, which was evident in the first draft of the Constitution.

The price of this Constitution was the blood of the martyrs including Shokri Belaid, Mohamed Brahmi, Mohamed Belmufti and all the other martyrs of the patriots of the army and security. Such sacrifices are our motive to develop the Constitution and activate it by establishing numerous new institutions and legislations.

Furthermore, the Front believes that Ennahda has been defeated and failed to impose its authoritarian Constitution. Despite Ennahda’s defeat, however, they are still trying to present the new Constitution as one of their achievements in order to conceal their positions and manipulate the Constitution for their own interests.

What is the position of the Popular Front towards the government of Mehdi Jouma after winning 149 votes of the National Constituent Assembly’s MPs?

Winning such a number of votes by Jouma’s government reflects the composition of forces within the NCA. It does not reflect the balance of powers outside the NCA and the Tunisian community.

The Front stressed its commitment to the road map, which stipulates that the government should include independent competencies to accomplish specific missions that respond to the deteriorated situation on the security, political, economic and social levels in addition to creating a proper environment for holding free and honest elections.

We believe that assigning Jouma for formulating the new government is a serious violation of the road map due to his affiliation to Larayed’s government. The sponsors of the national dialogue stressed that the government should be formed from scratch (i.e. it does not include any minister from the previous government) and include independent ministers to implement the road map.

According to the Front, Jouma’s government is composed of two groups the first of which includes technocrat ministers affiliated to major economic corporates and the second is a political one, which is more dangerous since it will be part of the upcoming elections and is a partisan quotas between the Troika.

Ennahda tried to maintain the powerful ministers by assigning Lotfi Ben Jeddo as Head of the Interior Ministry and Abdul Razak bin Khalifa, member of the Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties, as Head of the local communities within the Interior Ministry in addition to Hafiz Bin Saleh, member of the former regime, as Minister of Justice and another figure well known for his affiliation with Ennahda as Minister of Religious Affairs, not to mention the other figures who are closely connected with the Democratic Forum and the Congress for the Republic. This is a clear deviation from the roadmap and will have negative impacts on its implementation.

All such factors impose a constant vigilance over the government to be held accountable for its commitment to implementing the road map and prepare for the upcoming elections later this year.

Would the Popular Front maintain its alliance with Nidaa Tunis or are there any other possible alliances in preparation for the upcoming elections?

The establishment of the Salvation Front (which includes the Popular Front, Nidaa Tunis and other centrist parties) came right after the assassination of Mohamed Brahmi on 25 July 2011 demanding to dissolve the Constituent Assembly and the government of Ali Larayed in addition to the appointment of a new government with independent national competencies.

Hence, the missions for which the Salvation Front was founded have been achieved. However, this does not mean that the scope for joint action between the components of the Front is over since they have expressed their will to continue to work through the Front.

There is a forthcoming meeting of the components of the Salvation Front that will be held to resolve the matter. In addition, current discussions are being conducted with other parties including the National Front in order to expand our alliance with the democratic parties and coordinate our efforts for the coming period.

Will the popular Front participate in the upcoming elections on independent lists?

Yes, the Popular Front is ready to participate in the upcoming elections through independent lists and is currently discussing the matter of establishing alliances to prevent the return of tyranny and protect the achievements of the Tunisian people.

The final resolution about the means of participation depends on the developments of the political and security situation which would require similar alliances to those of the Front with Nidaa Tunis which has been previously rejected for us.

Will you run in the next presidential elections?

My candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections has not been decided definitively although there are proposals in this direction. The decision will be made in the coming weeks after finalizing the discussions about how to prepare for presidential and legislative elections and also on the electoral lists and the names of the candidates.