Tunisia's veteran president seeks re-election

By Sonia Ounissi

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali said on Wednesday he would run for re-election next year, a move that could extend his two-decade-long rule of north Africa's most Westernised state until 2014.

Ben Ali, 71, is widely credited with ensuring political stability and strong economic growth in the country of 10 million but critics accuse him of running roughshod over human rights and democratic values.

"I tell you with all pride: I'm always faithful to my commitment and answer you with all honour -- I will be your candidate for the 2009 presidential elections," Ben Ali told the congress of the ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally party.

Ben Ali, long urged by supporters to seek a new term, has run for election successfully on four previous occasions, two of them unopposed. He won 94.4 percent of the vote in the last election in 2004. The next polls are expected in October 2009.

Ben Ali gained power in the country, a strong ally of former colonial power France, in 1987 when doctors declared the then President Habib Bourguiba senile and unfit to rule.

A referendum in 2002 revised the constitution to allow the president an unlimited number of successive five-year terms.

Commentators say Ben Ali has made Tunisia north Africa's best educated country with its largest middle class and his policies in the 1990s spared Tunisians the bloody internal conflict experienced at that time by neighbouring Algeria.

In April, French President Nicolas Sarkozy dismissed concerns over Tunisia's human rights record, portraying its counter-terrorism efforts as a bulwark against the emergence of a "Taliban-type" regime in north Africa.

BALANCE OF POWER

But opponents and human rights activists argue his re-election would make him a de facto president-for-life, like his predecessor, Bourguiba, who once declared himself such.

Ben Ali indirectly dismissed these concerns.

"Regarding what is said from time to time concerning alternation in power, I would like to recall that this issue is already settled by the constitution," he said. "On our part, we believe in this fundamental principle of our republican system," he said, referring to the 2002 referendum.

Ben Ali on Wednesday promised to promote stronger economic growth, extend human rights and multi-party democracy and foster the role of women in society and politics.

Multi-party politics began in the early 1980s and the government says it has started granting legal opposition groups financial support to boost democracy.

The RCD dominates the legislature, as by law 80 percent of the seats in the 189-seat assembly are reserved for the ruling party. The remainder are contested by six opposition parties.

"Ben Ali will run in the election and win, as there is no (other) candidate able to change the balance of power," said political analyst Salah Jourchi.

"But the question is, would this declaration be an outlet to purify the political atmosphere by releasing political prisoners, improving freedom and reviewing suspended files, such as the Human Rights League problem."

The government denies it holds political prisoners. The authorities regard the independent Tunisian League of Human Rights as a tool of radical opposition groups and have suspended its operations for alleged irregularities.

(Writing by Lamine Ghanmi; editing by William Maclean and Mary Gabriel




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