Enhancing Public Accountability and Trust in Tunisia

cadre of elites, but are now obliged to include the views of all party members and the public. Parties need a unifying vision and strategy that involves addressing the power struggle between the old guard of pre-revolution party leaders and the new change-makers arising among youth and minorities across Tunisia. Experts suggest that Tunisian parties will need to undertake several strategic reforms to be successful, including resolving the dependency on single-personality politics; developing representative party platforms; and overcoming their ideological fragmentation and resistance to a new generation of leaders. Today, only a quarter of Tunisians believe that democracy is thriving in Tunisia and half believe that clear and responsive party platforms are crucial and often missing. Two-thirds of Tunisians do not identify with any political party, and as many as 80 percent do not trust any political party. Almost half of all Tunisians would like political party platforms to address economic issues while the other half wants to see a clear political agenda that engage citizens at the local and the national levels. The majority of Tunisians agree that politicians do not do enough to address the needs of youth.