Tunisia's Ennahda gears up for local elections

By Enes Canli

TUNIS

Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement is gearing up to take on its main rival, the moderate-leftist Nidaa Tounes party, in municipal polls slated for May 6.

According to Ennahda spokesman Abdelkarim al-Harouni, the current consensus between the two parties -- partners in Tunisia’s ruling coalition government -- is “only temporary”.

“We have no permanent alliance with Nidaa Tounes; we are two entirely different parties,” al-Harouni said.

“In the last polls in 2014, Tunisian voters refused to give power to a single party,” he added.

“As the country’s two main political parties,” he asserted, “we must decide whether to fight or to live together -- and we chose the latter.”

Al-Harouni went on to stress that Ennahda was willing to cooperate with all Tunisian political parties with a view to strengthening the country’s democratic foundations.

“We’re ready to cooperate with all political orientations, be they leftist, liberal, Islamist or nationalist,” he said.