The bustling capital of this country that choses at will whether to be Arab, African or Mediterranean has changed hearteningly.

Even under the dictator Ben Ali, Tunis had an indubitable buoyancy.

But that is because the man who deposed the aging independence President Habib Bourgiba in what is called a medical coup wanted Tunisia be different from its bigger, problematic neighbours Algeria to the west and Libya to the east.

So much so, in fact that he put policemen at every motorway exit  and on every train and bus to ensure order.

He wielded an iron rod over the media, which was placed 146th out 172 countries on the press freedom index, making it report only sunshine and progress in Tunisia.

Ben Ali’s  police state could not withstand the Arab Spring which began in Tunis in 2011 when a fruit seller Mohammed Bouzizi immolated himself after being bullied by the police.

That revolution brought change to Egypt, Syria ,Iraq, Bahrain  and Libya among others. 

But only Tunisia emerged as a democracy. 

It ranks 72nd on the latest press freedom index.

Ben Ali’s  departure caused  a difficult transition as Islamist fought secularists.

A non governmental organization that sought to negotiate an end to this conflict won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.

Beji Caid Essebsi won the first democratic election in 2014.

At 92, he wasn’t going to stand again in elections scheduled for November.

That Presidential poll has been expedited following Essebsi’s death in July.

No fewer than 26 candidates have emerged. Only two of them are women.

Two others appear on the billboards vying for public attention, but not at the hustings.

Television mogul Nabil Karoui is in jail awaiting trial on tax evasion and money laundering charges. Salim Riahi is in exile.

Essebsi’s Nabil Tounes coalition, set up to oppose the Islamist Ennahda Party, has disintegrated.

Sunday’s election is by all measures too close to call. 

Young people say the candidates do not represent their aspirations for a country they maintain is no long the African success story.

Unemployment has dropped slightly to15,3%.

There are several stoppages and strikes about the rising prices.

In the capital Tunis, most of the shops advertise dramatic sales to keep their doors open

The state of the nation becomes more apparent travelling south to the industrial port city of Gabes where I will be observing the voting on Sunday.

Heading south along the coastal highway from Tunis one passes Sousse where 38 British holiday makers were killed in a 2055 a terror attack that took Tunisia off the tourist map for the next three years.

Security is tighter but there were two suicide bombing in June and there have been recent terrorist attacks on Tunisia western border with Algeria

Visitors have started returning to this country within sight of Europe – but  not yet enough to return tourism to its place as Tunisia’s second more lucrative foreign currency earner.

Top place remains agriculture as one sees with endless kilometers  of olive trees around Sfax.

But as one approaches the Libyan border, the profusion of clandestine petrol sellers is evidence of the desperate need to make a quick buck.

Five-liter Plastic containers carrying the potentially explosive liquid, purloined from tankers crossing from Libya, line the roadside. 

Lethal accidents abound. The authorities appear unable to stop it.

 Ends

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Prediciting the outcome is impossible with 26 candidates in the field .

Tunisia is where the Arab Spring began in 2011.

Many of the voters in the election on September 15 were barely out of diapers when their compatriots rose up and overthrew the dictate Ben Ali.

Political space has opened up despite some terrorist attacks that have repelled tourists that are vital to this country  within sight of Europe.

But is the poor economic performance that preoccupies voters.

They are looking for concrete proposals from the candidates for ways of increasing growth and cutting unemployment that is preventing Tunsians from enjoying their democratic dividend.  

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The Parliamentary speaker from the North African country, Mohammed  Ennaceur, has been sworn in as interim president until elections in October.

Bejii Caid Essebsi is Tunisia’s first democratically-elected president.

He became Prime Minister after Beni Ali was deposed in the Arab Spring of 2011.

Three years later, Essebsi was elected President.

He opened the political space but was unable to bring the property he promised because of sporadic terrorist attacks by Islamist fundamentalist groups that crippled the tourism industry which is the biggest foreign currency earner for the picturesque country nestled between  Libya and Algeria with views of Europe across the Mediterranean.

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Tunisians have been battling for the past seven years since the ousting of authoritrian president Ben Ali signaled the start of  the so-called Arab Spring.

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed says anti-austerity demonstrators must realize that 2018 will be their last difficulty year.

Opposition forces have gathered to coordinate their protests.

They’re vowing to stay on the streets until and actually increases their protests until the government eases their tax load.

Nervous authorities are ever-mindful of two deadly terror attacks three year ago that brought Tunisia’s life-blood tourism industry to its knees.

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He was crushed by a compactor after he jumped into a garbage truck to retrieve his merchandise thrown there by police.

The tragic death of 31-year-old Mouhcine Fikri event occurred in the northern port city of Al Hoceima.

Protests there spread y to cities like Marrakesh and Rabat, the capital.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered the prosecution of  anyone who’s  broken the law.

Police reportedly asked for the trash compactor to be activated to stop Fikri and friends who dived into the garbage truck to retrieve R120 000  worth of swordfish, a protected species in Morocco, that the police had thrown there.

The protests that led to the fall of Tunisian strongman Ben Ali were sparked by the death of a fruit seller bullied by police.

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The democratically elected government is struggling to deal with both the hangover of the deposed Ben Ali regime and the new wave of jihadism that’s crashed down on the Arab world since then.

More Tunisians have to gone to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq than from any other Arab country.

The authorities have stopped about 9 000 Tunisians from doing this. But at least 3 000 have slipped through the net.

The radicalised young men that have returned are preying on the disaffection with the unemployment and poverty dating back to ousted dictator Ben Ali.

This is creating fertile ground for unrest and violent protest.

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President Jacob Zuma’s congratulated the winner and commended the people of that North African country for the peaceful passage of its first democratic presidential poll.

Moncef Marzouki told thousands of supporters at his campaign headquarters in a Tunisia suburb that he’s creating a movement to preserve the future of Tunisia.

He lost a closely fought run-off election against veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi.

The 88-year old victor served with Tunisia’s previous presidents and his party includes many old regime officials, prompting fears by some of a return to the country’s more authoritarian past.

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