Two days of protests, the violence that killed at least five people: the pressure of the street has finally bend the Tunisian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, replaced by Beji Caid Essebsi, Sunday, Feb. 27. It's now former minister of Bourguiba who should lead the country until elections in July. In the wake of this announcement, protesters continue to camp on the Place de la Kasbah in Tunis.
No wonder according to Eric Gobe, a political scientist at the Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim world, "young people do not recognize themselves in Beji Caid Essebsi", aged 84, "distant figure" who symbolizes a "government shifted the political turmoil facing the country." This resignation is primarily a response to pressure from a part of the Tunisian population.
Today, two political movements are structured in the country. On one side, supporters of the transitional government formed in part of the most volatile technocratic and less compromised by the former regime, and opposition leaders recognized at the time of Ben Ali. This opposition, which is a logical compromise, wants early parliamentary and presidential elections, organized under a constitution and an electoral code amended.
The second stream, meanwhile, is far more radical in its demands for democracy and it is this current which, with the support of the protesters, did give Mohammed Ghannouchi. It includes the supporters of the Front 14-Jan founded February 2, 2001, which itself led to the creation of a National Council for the Protection of the revolution.
This council brings together 28 political parties and associations, the single union, the General Union of Tunisian Workers, through the parties of the extreme left or Ennahda [Tunisian Islamist party]. However, members of the board require a complete break with the past. They require a high purification state apparatus.
They also require more or less rapidly, the election of a constituent assembly. The principle of a constituent assembly is to wipe the slate clean of Tunisia and institutional change the system from top to bottom, to propose a new constitution establishing a parliamentary system. Beji Caid Essebsi is a former militant nationalist.
He was also a senior Socialist Party Destourian [Bourguiba's party, president from 1957 to 1987]. A lawyer by training, he was called by Bourguiba to participate in the construction of independent Tunisia. He is a man of device, went through all sovereign ministries: defense, interior, foreign affairs.
He was foremost in the heart of the Bourguiba era. It's also a man of the seraglio. He was deputy under Ben Ali and President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1990 to 1991. And under Ben Ali, no one was elected by chance. To establish its legitimacy, Ben Ali had relied on strong personalities of the period Bourguiba.
But in 1994, Beji Caid Essebsi has distanced himself vis-à-vis the regime and withdrew from politics to resume his legal activities. Beji Caid Essebsi was also chosen because it was included in the software of acting president, Fouad Mebazaa, the two men know they are part of the same generation, those over 80 years.
With his departure from Parliament in 1994, the Acting Chairman ruled that Beji Caid Essebsi had sufficiently distanced himself from Ben Ali and he could be a less objectionable than Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi. Not really. Tunisian President Appoints Acting person rather old, a chieftain of the political regime of Bourguiba.
And although he has distanced himself from Ben Ali, he is somewhere associated with the former regime. The problem is that young people do not recognize themselves in Beji Caid Essebsi is a distant figure. It is therefore in door-to-fake vis-à-vis youth. In addition, he has participated in any movement that led to the downfall of the regime of Ben Ali.
I do not think the street pressure will decrease. The National Council for the Protection of the revolution will surely continue to keep a radical democratic discourse. It may therefore be in a situation where demonstrators demanding the resignation of the board of the new Prime Minister.
Sure, and it's a problem: for now, we do not know what political forces will emerge. Ben Ali had eliminated any serious opposition and credible. Therefore the parties currently in government are no social base and popular. We see at the moment, the National Council for the Protection of the revolution, the emergence of a charismatic figure, Hamma Hammami.
It also notes that the council is becoming increasingly important, and arises as a spokesperson of the Tunisian population, at least those that go down protest. It puts the power and under supervision and under pressure. On this point, it is unclear: is it that the council will impose its vision? Is there going to be elected a National Constituent Assembly? In all cases, it is unlikely that the figures of the Council for the Protection of the Revolution include the transitional government.
Rather it is for the council to pressure the transitional government and control its activity. Somehow, the government of Beji Caid Essebsi appears at odds against the political turmoil the country. Interview by Flora Knees 
No wonder according to Eric Gobe, a political scientist at the Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim world, "young people do not recognize themselves in Beji Caid Essebsi", aged 84, "distant figure" who symbolizes a "government shifted the political turmoil facing the country." This resignation is primarily a response to pressure from a part of the Tunisian population.
Today, two political movements are structured in the country. On one side, supporters of the transitional government formed in part of the most volatile technocratic and less compromised by the former regime, and opposition leaders recognized at the time of Ben Ali. This opposition, which is a logical compromise, wants early parliamentary and presidential elections, organized under a constitution and an electoral code amended.
The second stream, meanwhile, is far more radical in its demands for democracy and it is this current which, with the support of the protesters, did give Mohammed Ghannouchi. It includes the supporters of the Front 14-Jan founded February 2, 2001, which itself led to the creation of a National Council for the Protection of the revolution.
This council brings together 28 political parties and associations, the single union, the General Union of Tunisian Workers, through the parties of the extreme left or Ennahda [Tunisian Islamist party]. However, members of the board require a complete break with the past. They require a high purification state apparatus.
They also require more or less rapidly, the election of a constituent assembly. The principle of a constituent assembly is to wipe the slate clean of Tunisia and institutional change the system from top to bottom, to propose a new constitution establishing a parliamentary system. Beji Caid Essebsi is a former militant nationalist.
He was also a senior Socialist Party Destourian [Bourguiba's party, president from 1957 to 1987]. A lawyer by training, he was called by Bourguiba to participate in the construction of independent Tunisia. He is a man of device, went through all sovereign ministries: defense, interior, foreign affairs.
He was foremost in the heart of the Bourguiba era. It's also a man of the seraglio. He was deputy under Ben Ali and President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1990 to 1991. And under Ben Ali, no one was elected by chance. To establish its legitimacy, Ben Ali had relied on strong personalities of the period Bourguiba.
But in 1994, Beji Caid Essebsi has distanced himself vis-à-vis the regime and withdrew from politics to resume his legal activities. Beji Caid Essebsi was also chosen because it was included in the software of acting president, Fouad Mebazaa, the two men know they are part of the same generation, those over 80 years.
With his departure from Parliament in 1994, the Acting Chairman ruled that Beji Caid Essebsi had sufficiently distanced himself from Ben Ali and he could be a less objectionable than Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi. Not really. Tunisian President Appoints Acting person rather old, a chieftain of the political regime of Bourguiba.
And although he has distanced himself from Ben Ali, he is somewhere associated with the former regime. The problem is that young people do not recognize themselves in Beji Caid Essebsi is a distant figure. It is therefore in door-to-fake vis-à-vis youth. In addition, he has participated in any movement that led to the downfall of the regime of Ben Ali.
I do not think the street pressure will decrease. The National Council for the Protection of the revolution will surely continue to keep a radical democratic discourse. It may therefore be in a situation where demonstrators demanding the resignation of the board of the new Prime Minister.
Sure, and it's a problem: for now, we do not know what political forces will emerge. Ben Ali had eliminated any serious opposition and credible. Therefore the parties currently in government are no social base and popular. We see at the moment, the National Council for the Protection of the revolution, the emergence of a charismatic figure, Hamma Hammami.
It also notes that the council is becoming increasingly important, and arises as a spokesperson of the Tunisian population, at least those that go down protest. It puts the power and under supervision and under pressure. On this point, it is unclear: is it that the council will impose its vision? Is there going to be elected a National Constituent Assembly? In all cases, it is unlikely that the figures of the Council for the Protection of the Revolution include the transitional government.
Rather it is for the council to pressure the transitional government and control its activity. Somehow, the government of Beji Caid Essebsi appears at odds against the political turmoil the country. Interview by Flora Knees
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