In the second part of this special interview with Rashed Ghannouchi, the head of the Ennahda Movement speaks about many issues related to the sources of his party’s finances, his political future as the leader of Ennahda and the future of the movement’s political alliances.

Rached Ghannouchi, will you ever publish a transparent report on the movement’s finances?

In the second part of this special interview with Rashed Ghannouchi, the head of the Ennahda Movement speaks about many issues related to the sources of his party’s finances, his political future as the leader of Ennahda and the future of the movement’s political alliances.

Rached Ghannouchi, will you ever publish a transparent report on the movement’s finances?

Ennahda Movement is a longstanding, large and organized party which respects and abides by the Tunisian law, and that includes its financial transactions – the 2011 and 2014 elections clearly prove that. As for the sources of its finances, Ennahda Movement is a big party with more than 100,000 members and even before the revolution, when our members were fewer and we were oppressed by the dictatorship, we managed to finance ourselves by the members’ contributions. Currently, after toppling the dictatorship and the increase of our members, we will not find it difficult to collect enough donations from our members to cover our finances.

What about the movement’s external finances?

The Tunisian laws ban political parties from getting external finances and we, as a responsible party, abide by these laws.

Will you continue as the head of Ennahda Movement in the future?

All of Ennahda’s leaders can nominate themselves for this position and this is not new to our movement and all of our conferences. Throughout our long history, we featured many candidates for the movement’s presidency.  

After the defection of Nidaa Tounes, Ennahda Movement became the largest bloc in the parliament. What are your current priorities?  

The parliament’s time is very precious, therefore, we should focus on priorities such as the laws regulating the local authorities and the municipal elections so that all Tunisians throughout the country participate. Thus, the parliament should use its time to finish building the constitutional institutions, which will protect our democracy.

The parliament should also focus on reforming the laws, which regulate the economy to liberate it from its constraints. It should also monitor the government and hold it accountable. We should focus on these matters rather than the ideological issues, which are not important for the ordinary citizens.  

What is your position on the draft law proposed by Hurra Bloc in the parliament on banning the niqab in public places?

I support strengthening religious freedom. However, I believe that raising such an issue only aims to create a media buzz and cause a division in identity to achieve political gains.

We, from this platform, call on all political factions to focus on the important priorities and the things that matter to the Tunisian citizens including rising prices, employment, security, education, health and achieving justice between the Tunisian districts and supporting the state in its war against terrorism. I believe these are the big issues that we should work on and away from the narrow ideological and political considerations.

What is the future of the movement’s political alliances? Will you continue in your alliance with Nidaa Tounes or will you enter in new alliances with other parties?

We are willing to cooperate with all the parties who accept the Tunisian constitution as a common ground and believe in dialogue as a way of solving disagreements. As I mentioned before, the ship of Tunisia should have all Tunisians on board. Therefore, we should learn the art of co-existence and accepting the other and avoid exclusion, which only leads to hatred and deepens division.      

We should look forward to the future as we agreed on a common ground and the framework, which will regulate our political landscape. Tunisia managed to make miracles happen thanks to dialogue and mutual compromises. Our hands are open to all including leftists, nationalists, members of the Dustoor Party and the Democratic Party. Tunisia has room for all and needs all of its people.