Tunisia's Chaambi: Between electoral 'promises' and 'lies'

TUNIS

In Tunisia's Chaambi Mountains border region, campaigning for impending parliamentary polls does not appear to cater to the conditions of a region rocked by militancy for over two years.

In the western Jendouba province, where the Chaambi Mountains stretch across the border with Algeria, many residents interviewed by Anadolu Agency said they were still undecided on which parliamentary candidates to vote for – two days before the polls were set to begin.

Their apparent apathy is driven by a sense that candidates in the area did not seem to address their grievances. Most candidates, they complain, seem to focus their campaigning on provincial capitals and urban areas.

This leaves residents of remote agricultural towns near the Algerian border – who make up some 73 percent of the population of the Al-Kef and Jendouba provinces – with few candidates to choose from.

"For so long, we've been waiting for our afflicted region to receive the attention it deserves after it has been turned into a military zone," Mohsen , a resident of the district, located on the eastern side of the mountains, told AA.

"There have been a lot of [electoral] promises, but there have also been a lot of lies," he lamented.

Residents of the restive mountainous provinces of Jendouba, Al-Kef and Kasserine have suffered restrictions on their daily lives since the Tunisian government declared the Chaambi Mountains a closed military zone in April of last year.

The move came as part of a military campaign against armed groups holed up in the mountains.

Living with the constant sound of gun and artillery fire, as well as the fear of being targeted by militants, many farmers in the agricultural area lost much of their income the roads leading to their fields and barns were blocked by the authorities.

On Thursday, a landmine explosion targeted a Tunisian military patrol in Al-Kef, also located near the mountains, injuring five soldiers. Media reports suggest that Ansar al-Sharia, a militant group dubbed a "terrorist organization" by the government last summer, may have been behind the attack.

"Our problems have been reduced to a line or two in politicians' electoral campaigns vowing to support the security forces' fight against terrorism – but they never directly address the fate of all those people living in the mountains," said.

Independent candidates have generally shied away from the issue of militancy in the Chaambi area. Most simply speak of supporting the security forces in their campaign against the militants.

On the other hand, a coalition of Islamist parties and independent candidates has vowed to work on "uprooting terrorism" by combating corruption and "protecting youth from being deceived [by militant groups]."

Over 185,000 voters are registered in the Kasserine electoral district, a main province of the Chaambi Mountains area, according to the Tunisian electoral commission.

The Kasserine electoral district will be represented by eight seats in Tunisia's incoming 217-member National Assembly. Another 166,000 voters are registered in Jendouba, which will be represented by six assembly seats.

Parties and candidates have had 21 days to campaign in the run-up to the October 26 poll – the country's second since a popular uprising in 2011 ousted autocratic president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the "Arab Spring" uprisings, has about 5.2 million eligible voters who will choose from among 13,000 parliamentary candidates.

There are 190 political parties in Tunisia, most of which emerged in the wake of the 2011 uprising.

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