American Sénat confirmed the nomination of Donald Blum ad s new ambassador in Tunisia
During the évent , ambassador Blum supported 2019 Elections procces and Sécular- Islamistd government Coalition as confirmed by sكtranscription of the Q/A between the ambassador and Senator Risch.
It is basically 2 questions:
Q & A
– Senator Risch: in Tunisia the president secular party has had a fragile government put together with the Islamist party. Reports are that that has gone asunder. Can you in lighten us on that and tell us how that’s going to affect the country in your judgment?
Answer: thank you. I think to put in context what has happened, very important to think about it in terms of Tunisia’s where they’ve come which is an extraordinary way since the 2014 elections including the coalition government that they’ve been able to hold together for quite sometime now. What we see now are strains, which are part I think of the democratic process. The important thing to see in that is that the parties themselves, the parties that have committed to the coalition, that have committed to working within the government have adhered to the democratic contract if you will, they have adhered to the constitution standard, they have played by the rules of the game, and as long they stay within the bounds, these kind of things are what we are going to see there. They have a very important elections coming up next year the end of 2019, both parliamentary and presidential elections, and that will be a milestone for them. That will be the second major round of elections and it will be a good indicator of the consolidation of the democratic process there. So I think it is not surprising that you see strains and shifts at times in the line ups or coalitions and the way they look but at the end of the day the important thing to see will be whether the important players will adhere to the rules of the game. I think that is the important context here.
– Senator Risch: Is the upcoming elections causing some of the turbulence that’s there today that is not foreign to a democratic situation that we all know.
Answer: Right. Mr. Chairman I think that is probably an absolutely accurate observation and something almost to be expected as political figures prepare for election and something that is part of the universal democratic experience in a way. But again I think we probably continue to see things like that happening, but the important part is the political leadership of Tunisia has remained committed, committed to working through the democratic institutions they’ve set up since 2011.