Smaali is running for the Tunisian parliament in the 26 October election as a candidate for the Reform Front Party (Al Isla), which pursues a Salafist agenda, and seeks to introduce Sharia law in the country.
How would you introduce yourself to voters?
Smaali is running for the Tunisian parliament in the 26 October election as a candidate for the Reform Front Party (Al Isla), which pursues a Salafist agenda, and seeks to introduce Sharia law in the country.
How would you introduce yourself to voters?
I am from the Medenine province in southern Tunisia and I am 27-years-old. I hold a university degree in media, and I am president of the women’s bureau of the Reform Front Party in the Medenine province. I am also a member of the Shura Council for the same party – and I’m a candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
When did you enter the world of politics?
Before the revolution, I was not active in politics, because like all other Tunisians, I feared the consequences, but I used to follow the situation in the country. I started to engage in political activism less than a year ago.
What do you think about the Manouba University crisis and the plans to ban veiled students from taking the exams unless they unveil their faces?
This has always been a serious problem and it was politicized at that time. Things shouldn’t have developed as they did and I was against the way the issue was handled. If these women were provided with appropriate conditions to take their exams, veiled women would have been able to show their talents and improve the low ranking of the university. There are veiled women who are pilots, and in the UK, for example, veiled women are allowed to take their exams without having to remove their veils. But in Tunisia, a Muslim country, veiled women are treated as second class citizens.
Does this mean that you are appealing to veiled women in your election programme?
On the list where my name appears, there are two veiled women and another who doesn’t wear the veil. I don’t aspire to be elected by a certain sector of the society, although my appearance and my clothes show that I represent only one sector. I want to represent all Tunisian women and I will be the voice to lift injustice done to veiled women who are suppressed and do not even enjoy the right to work. Some see them as obscurantist and reactionary and this is not true. We represent a certain thought. A philosopher once said: speak out and let me see what you are. I took my own decision to participate in these elections. Nobody added my name to gain votes for veiled women.
Do you believe that people will vote for you without even seeing your face?
Yes, I believe so, because people will vote for the ideas I adopt and these ideas are essentially reformist in nature. As you can see, the veil does not stop me from communicating with people.
What is your electoral programme? What do the people want, in your opinion?
The name of our party is indicative of our programme. We are trying to see the positive aspects of such things as the Islamic economy, which is being applied in Morocco and we advocate it in Tunisia. I also aspire to make youth more active and to allow them to participate in political life. Moreover, I want to reform the Tunisian administration, education, and other important fields which require restructuring.
Is the Islamic Sharia the only source of your programmes?
The Sharia calls for justice, equality, and freedom, but with restrictions. In Tunisia, people were driven to fear Islamic law. No one should be afraid of cutting off a hand, other than thieves. Unfortunately, people have become afraid of the word “Sharia” and everything derived from it, without being aware of its positive aspects such as the Islamic economy and the Islamic Zakat Fund, especially as the purchasing power of citizens has recently become very low. It is better for people to correctly understand the Sharia.
But the constitution, which was approved and which will be applied in the future, is not derived from the Sharia.
I did not say that we are going to apply Sharia as of tomorrow or the moment we reach the parliament. We have a long-term strategy and as you know, there were protests directly after the ratification of the constitution. I am sure that if a popular referendum is held on the application of Sharia, the majority of Tunisians would vote for it. However, we should also consider that the constitution contains provisions that are compatible with religion and Sharia, and others that are not in line with them.
Do you mean that the constitution did not reflect the demands of the people?
This is the crux of the problem. MPs were supposed to represent the people and not their own parties and political interests. Unfortunately, people were not consulted on the constitution.
If you win in the election, will you suggest the revision of chapters of the constitution that you believe contradict Islamic law?
Of course I will, because this is what most of the people want, but their voices are not heard.
But you are nominating yourself based on a law that is not derived from the Sharia – this is against your convictions!
I consider the election law just as a mechanism for the peaceful transfer of power. I will not stay idle and freeze my participation in building my country until the issuance of an electoral law that is compatible with the Islamic law. When this happens, I will be an old woman. I consider the election law as a mechanism to reach power and to start reform.
In Tunisia, political parties who call for the creation of an Islamic Caliphate state, like you, usually refuse to participate in the elections and they ban such participation!
This is not true. I did not speak about a Caliphate state. All this is a lie used against me. Tunisia is a Muslim country and it is not me who decides whether we should build a Caliphate state or not. This issue needs the interpretation and jurisprudence of Muslim scholars and I do not want to discuss it now. The aim behind my nomination is to build and reform Tunisia.
Analysts say that after the experience of the rule of the Ennahda Movement, Tunisians no longer trust Islamist political parties. What is your opinion?
Here lies the danger, because this will contribute to the return of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (the ruling party before the revolution) to power. As for the use of religion as a means to attain power and the practice of political pragmatism, I don’t wish to talk about these issues.
Don’t you see that the Ennahda Movement has harmed the image of parties with religious authority and proved that it is a pragmatic party, like any other party?
We should not forget that the Ennahda Movement worked under pressure, and I do not agree that it harmed the image of religious parties.
