Adnan Monser, Secretary General of Tunisia’s speaks to Correspondents about his new movement Al Irada Movement (founded by former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki). Monser also discusses his political alliances and his positions towards the current governmental coalition as well as Tunisia’s economic and social crises.

Adnan Monser, do you not believe that leaving the Congress Party, well- known for its experience, to establish Tunisia Al Irada Movement was a hasty decision?

Adnan Monser, Secretary General of Tunisia’s speaks to Correspondents about his new movement Al Irada Movement (founded by former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki). Monser also discusses his political alliances and his positions towards the current governmental coalition as well as Tunisia’s economic and social crises.

Adnan Monser, do you not believe that leaving the Congress Party, well- known for its experience, to establish Tunisia Al Irada Movement was a hasty decision?

It was not a hasty decision. We considered the establishment of this movement for over a year and a half and Tunisia Al Irada Movement’s experience is based on the concept that the Congress Party for the Republic should open up and develop its ideology. Our goal is to go beyond names, banners or titles to determining general orientations and visions.

I assure you that 99 percent of the Congress party’s activists and cadres joined our new experience. Three months since the announcement of its establishment, Tunisia Al Irada has managed to rank third according to the latest surveys.

I believe that despite the financial difficulties we are facing currently, we will succeed because we have changed neither our principles nor our political convictions and we are now the only political party that still calls for the same notions and raises the same slogans which call for achieving the goals of the revolution.

Which opposition parties are the closest to your movement currently?

We have numerous common positions with the social democratic parties including our assessment of the ruling system’s performance. We also share similar visions of devoting energy to real social and economic justice.

Do other social forces, including trade unions, share the same positions as you?

Trade unions are an essential element in the social issue. They are key elements in modifying the relationship between organization and workers and between state and society. It is only normal that we share numerous notions and attitudes with trade unions.

Does this also apply to the Tunisian General Labor Union?

It especially applies to the Tunisian General Labor Union. We also have mutual positions with the businessmen unions, especially those related to protecting the economic institutions since their protection against foreign competition, for example, would enable them to provide job opportunities and ease or even eliminate the social crisis.

How would you evaluate your relationship with the leftist Popular Front? Do you share any mutual positions with that party?

We do not have similar positions with the Popular Front, which is technically classified as an opposition party but was the most responsible entity for the arrival of a corrupt government to power. We believe that opposition means a radical or partial disagreement on fundamental and basic issues with those in power.

What about your relationship with the Islamist Ennahda Movement, which was your former ally in the government?

We, as Tunisia Al Irada Movement, currently classify ourselves as an opposition party. Ennahda is part of the ruling government and, therefore, an alliance between an opposition party and a ruling one is unacceptable.

Have you evaluated your former alliance with Ennahda within the framework of the Troika government?

Yes, indeed. We criticized this experience although we are still obliged to have reservations towards numerous state secrets since we strongly believe that some classified issues must not be exposed as they would have negative impacts on the state.

However, we may say our alliance with Ennahda in the past was imbalanced. We were punished in the last elections for this poor political performance, but we accept this punishment and take full responsibility. However, we decided to start a new beginning today based on new energies to avoid committing the same past mistakes.

What is your opinion about Moncef Marzouki’s former experience as head of state?

Moncef Marzouki approached presidency with new logic, vision and standards which all aimed at serving the public good. He was well aware of the fact that he was the first post-revolution elected president. Due to his human rights background and cultural as well as educational stature, his practice was unfamiliar to people.

Hence, Moncef Marzouki practiced presidency differently, but our society, as it is generally conservative, was used to a stereotypical image of the president and was accustomed to the fact that the president has absolute power. Therefore, it was not easy to impose a new practice and some communication mistakes were made upon trying to explain and convince the public opinion with this orientation.

Do you think that Marzouki’s mistakes when he was president were responsible for the Congress Party’s elections downfall?

Not necessarily but Moncef Marzouki did not handle the situation properly and he does not deny this fact. Both we and our partners made mistakes, but sometimes things were decided against our will. We do not dissociate ourselves from this responsibility, but we objectively criticize it to avoid any repetition in the future.

Do you believe that the social tension on various levels would result in a serious social crisis that may negatively affect the political scene?

Since the beginning, we said the next crisis would be primarily a social one and the political crisis would become minor in this case. This crisis will further increase since the ruling regime has no tangible solutions, no unified program and is not based on a common vision of governance.

The coalition should have given some signs that indicate its seriousness and will to reform, including providing an orientation to combat corruption since nepotism, bribery and corruption were the primary sources of all the social tensions. If the government showed signs of such orientation, the people would have understood and given it more time to reform. However, we all sensed that this government is unable to take any step in this direction.

How do you evaluate the quartet ruling coalition experience after a year and a half of political alliance?

We expected the failure of this experience since the start as this coalition did not have a unified program to conduct the country’s affairs and solve the accumulated social problems. Therefore, the people resorted to confronting it violently and had this coalition continued in power for a few more months, it would have been formal and non-influential since the actual rulers of the country are the ‘economic mafias’ which brought the coalition parties to rule.

In your opinion, what was the reason behind this governmental failure to combat corruption?

The current structure of the government is an opportunistic one that coexists with corruption rather than combating it. Since the majority of the ruling parties are either corrupt or complicit with corruption (as they came to power through corrupt political money and ‘barons’ of economic and media mafia), they are obliged to maintain the interests of their associates and, hence, unable to take serious measures to combat corruption, which put them in power in the first place. Therefore, the failure is primarily caused by the lack of will and the availability of strong ties between the ruling system and corruption.

Some believe that the failure of the ruling coalition is due to the failure of Prime Minister Habib Essayed. Is this correct?

I believe that the government’s problem is not its president. Habib Essayed is an honest man and has a vision for his job as head of government. However, he has an incompetent ministerial team and has limited control over the government action orientations due to the merger between party and government affiliations of some ministers. Therefore, we witnessed several ministers demanding to change the government. Currently, chaos and a lack of seriousness prevail in the government’s work and I do not believe that the prime minister enjoys enough support from the ruling coalition to control the situation.

In your opinion, which party supports the prime minister today?

The main party supporting this government seriously is Ennahda movement as it is the sole entity that wants the prime minister to succeed unlike the rest of the parties. The problem will remain as long as this government team has poor political reference and does not have a unified program or interact with the orientations of the prime minister.

How do you evaluate the performance of the president?

The president’s involvement in the conflict within the party he founded (Nidaa Tounes) resulted in decreasing his moral authority. Additionally, his respect to the constitution as well as the principle of non-interference in political parties were doubted.

We as the opposition criticized such behavior, but the president ignored us. In my opinion, the performance of the president is poor, as he dragged this national institution to the control of President Beji Caid Essebsi’s family.