Vox Pops: Tunisian youth prepare for vote

Young Tunisians discuss the role they can play in their country’s fledgling democracy ahead of presidential election.

Though voter turnout in the legislative elections was high, just 29 percent of Tunisian youth cast a ballot [Reuters]

Four years since the eruption of the Tunisian revolution, improvements have been made on issues such as human rights and free speech, but ongoing economic, social and security malaise kept the majority of young voters away from polling stations during last month’s legislative elections.

Though voter turnout was generally high, only 29 percent of eligible Tunisian youths cast a ballot, and a certain amount of voter apathy is also expected for the presidential vote on Sunday. The low turnout has been widely blamed on Tunisia’s political parties, which failed to engage the country’s youth.

As Tunisia prepares to return to the polls, Al Jazeera profiles the perspectives of a number of young Tunisians and the role they can play in a country struggling to decide what kind of democracy it should become.

Insaf Meliti, 23, student
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Insaf Meliti [Hend Hassassi/Al Jazeera]

It is an opportunity that we will not get again. That’s why I am going to vote, even though I still don’t know who I am going to vote for.

Citizens of this country were denied that chance for over 50 years so it’s our responsibility as young people to ensure that it goes in the right direction.

If you are not going to vote now, then you don’t have the right later to criticise the person who will get elected.

Sana Ajmi, 26, project manager

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Sana Ajmi [Hend Hassassi/Al Jazeera]
Ahlem Zawek, 22, student
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Ahlem Zawek [Hend Hassassi/Al Jazeera]

I have to vote; it is a national duty. I am still undecided as who to vote for.

I have not found a person that has caught my attention, but you never know – maybe at the last minute something happens and makes me opt for one person over another.

Wajdi Belloumi, 22, student

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Wajdi Belloumi [Hend Hassassi/Al Jazeera]
Nesrine Fitouri, 22, student
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Nesrine Fitouri [Hend Hassassi/Al Jazeera]

I was not going to vote. I did not want to vote because no one has managed to convince me, but I have changed my mind.

I am going to vote to balance things because I am not satisfied with the results of the legislative elections.

Issrar Chamekh, 22, student

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Issrar Chamekh [Hend Hassassi/Al Jazeera]
Source: Al Jazeera