TUNIS // The final round of Tunisia’s presidential election on Sunday looks set to confirm a major shift in the country’s post-revolutionary politics, as the incumbent president, former human rights activist Moncef Marzouki, faces a strong challenge from a veteran politician whose new party has emerged as a major political player.
A victory for Mr Marzouki could herald an uneasy working relationship between a president who firmly rejects the legacy of Tunisia’s pre-revolutionary regimes, and a government and parliament dominated by a new party that nevertheless has links to the country’s authoritarian past.
Mr Marzouki’s challenger Beji Caid Sebsi, who was a prominent politician in the first decades of Tunisian independence, was front-runner in last month’s first round. A victory for Mr Caid Sebsi would mean that his Nidaa Tounes party would control the presidency, in addition to appointing the new government and being the largest party in parliament. Grouping old-regime figures with other new faces, Nidaa Tounes has presented itself as the natural home for anti-Islamist modernists.
Mr Caid Sebsi’s party won 86 of the 217 seats in the new parliament elected in October, giving it the right to name a prime minister. However, it failed to win an overall majority and will have to form a coalition government.
The Ennahda party, which had been the largest bloc in the interim legislature, on a platform of moderate Islamism, saw its presence slip to 69 seats.
While Ennahda is officially neutral on the outcome of the presidential election, the party’s supporters supply the largest bloc of votes for Mr Marzouki, a former dissident who represents the small, non-religious and centre-left Congress for the Revolution party (CPR).
However the Ennahda party leadership has indicated it could favour the party joining a broad coalition government led by Nidaa Tounes.
Ennahda’s decision not to officially endorse Marzouki’s candidacy prompted the resignation from the party of its former secretary-general, Hamadi Jebali, who served as prime minister in 2012-13.
If Mr Caid Sebsi becomes president “we will have fallen into the trap of leaving one sole party in a position of dominance,” Mr Jebali told The National in an interview this week. “To build democracy, you absolutely have to have a balance of forces: a power and a counterweight. Now we are left with a single party in a hegemonic position.”
Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi this week distanced himself from Marzouki’s electoral platform by dismissing fears of a return to authoritarianism. “The police state, the single-party state is not about to return,” Mr Ghannouchi said. “The days of president for life are over.”
Observers note that the possibility of an entente between the Islamists and a Nidaa Tounes government therefore remains open.
In October, Ennahda was unexpectedly unseated by Nidaa Tounes as the largest bloc in the country’s new parliament, which replaces the constituent assembly elected in 2011.
The Islamist party was targeted by waves of repression under the rule of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Opponents of Mr Caid Sebsi have meanwhile not forgotten his time as interior minister under the 30-year-rule of president Habib Bourguiba, the country’s first post-independence president. It was a period of harsh repression of leftist critics, including through the use of torture and imprisonment without fair trial.
Mr Caid Sebsi was also parliamentary speaker in the early years of the Ben Ali regime.
Nidaa Tounes, which he formed more than a year after the 2011 revolution, draws some electoral support from voters who feel loyalty to Ben Ali’s now dissolved ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD).
Attempting to distance itself from that repressive past, Nidaa Tounes has offered voters a line-up of other smaller parties backing Mr Caid Sebsi’s bid for the presidency.
Sunday’s vote will show just how many Tunisian voters have been won over to the idea that the gains of the 2011 revolution are safe in old hands.
Mr Marzouki argues that only he can be trusted to defend the new freedoms that Tunisians won in their 2011 revolution against the Ben Ali regime. For decades after independence from France in 1956, Tunisia veered into authoritarianism, the 69-year-old told a campaign rally. It missed the opportunity to create a pluralist political system and a “nation of citizens” fully aware of their rights, he said.
Mr Markouzi argues that a vote for Mr Caid Sebsi would allow “old regime” elements to make a comeback.
For his part, Mr Caid Sebsi is wooing voters with the vision of a country that moves forward by rehabilitating the political culture of the past. The 88-year-old has pledged to honour not just the text, but also the new democratic spirit of the constitution approved in January.
His campaign has been given sympathetic coverage in much of Tunisia’s media, notably on the privately owned Nessma television channel, whose owner Nabil Karoui openly endorses Mr Caid Sebsi’s candidacy and has accompanied him on campaign events.
At Mr Marzouki’s campaign-closing event in a sports hall in the Bardo neighbourhood of Tunis on Friday, some of his supporters drawn from nearby lower-income neighbourhoods were doubtful about Mr Caid Sebsi’s pledges. They alleged that activists for his Nidaa Tounes party had attempted this autumn to revive the neighbourhood networks of influence that had been used to secure loyalty by the RCD party of Ben Ali.
A video circulating on social networking sites this week showed a young woman being urged by neighbourhood RCD loyalists to “vote for Beji”.
On the capital’s main avenue, meanwhile, Mr Caid Sebsi addressed a crowd in which professionals and civil servants were well represented. He referred to the two political assassinations carried out by radical Islamists in 2013, under a coalition government that was headed by Ennahda and included Mr Marzouki’s CPR.
Mr Caid Sebsi’s campaign has depicted the Islamist-led government that was in office through 2012 and 2013 as a glaring example of administrative incompetence, which gave free rein to extreme religious conservatives in the country’s mosques and paved the way for the emergence of armed extremism.
Under the country’s new constitution, the new president elected on Sunday is intended to have a more limited role. He will be responsible for the broad outline of security, defence and foreign policy.
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
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Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
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TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) v Belinda Bencic (SUI [4]
Not before 7pm:
Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]
Court One
Starting at midday:
Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) v Dayana Yastermska (UKR)
Petra Martic (CRO) [8] v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v Anett Kontaveit (EST)
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
The specs: 2017 Lotus Evora Sport 410
Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km
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Seven tips from Emirates NBD
1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details
2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet
3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details
4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure
5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs (one-time passwords) with third parties
6. Track bank notifications regarding transaction discrepancies
7. Report lost or stolen debit and credit cards immediately
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
The Uefa Awards winners
Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League
Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Hobbies: Salsa dancing “It's in my blood” and listening to music in different languages
Favourite place to travel to: “Thailand, as it's gorgeous, food is delicious, their massages are to die for!”
Favourite food: “I'm a vegetarian, so I can't get enough of salad.”
Favourite film: “I love watching documentaries, and am fascinated by nature, animals, human anatomy. I love watching to learn!”
Best spot in the UAE: “I fell in love with Fujairah and anywhere outside the big cities, where I can get some peace and get a break from the busy lifestyle”
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
