Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

experience and expertise, will be key to a successful political transition (SAIS Group
Meeting, 25 January 2012).
Now that the RCD’s monopoly over politics has ended, other political parties
have begun to rapidly ramp up their capacity. Several of the challenges these parties have
encountered are explored below.
Messaging, Branding and Platform Development
Many of the parties have struggled to develop a clear and differentiated message, as well
as a solid policy platform. This is partially due to the fact that opposition parties and
leaders active under Ben Ali’s regime never were forced to articulate a positive political
vision. They could garner support merely by expressing their opposition to the policies of
the old regime. The task of developing a distinct message also has been made more
difficult by the size of the field of parties.
With Ennahdha consistently polling as the front-runner before the elections, most
of the other prominent parties chose to draw a contrast with them by focusing on their
secular credentials. As a result, the Islamist-secular issue dominated the public debate in
the lead-up to the elections, despite Ennahdha’s efforts to transcend the divide by
espousing a vague but conciliatory message. Tunisia is known for its “moderate” brand of
Islam, so that in order for Ennahdha to perform well in the polls, the party would need to
garner support from all corners of the country, not just those inclined to vote for an
Islamist party. While Ennahdha tried to remain above the fray, most of the secular parties
fiercely attacked the notion that Ennahdha was moderate. This played to Ennahdha’s
advantage for three reasons. First, the contrast was drawn between Ennahdha and the rest
of the nearly indistinguishable field of secular parties. Second, the fierce rhetoric against
Ennahdha didn’t match with the moderate image meticulously cultivated by the party,
thereby making it a question of which party a voter was more inclined to believe. Third,
the secularists’ rhetoric was often perceived as being anti-religion or anti-Islam, which
turned off voters who may generally support the idea of a secular state (Interview with
Radwan Masmoudi, SAIS group meeting, 26 January 2012).
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