Tunisia Decides

"The Road to Carthage – Tunisia Decides 2019" marked a historic milestone as the first-ever presidential debate program in the MENA region. Organized by the Munathara Initiative in partnership with National Tunisian Television, it set a groundbreaking precedent in Tunisia’s 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections- the first live, televised electoral debates in the Arabic-speaking world.

To bring this vision to fruition, Munathara assembled a coalition of public and private broadcasters in collaboration with the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) and the national broadcast regulator (HAICA). Hundreds of Tunisians from all 24 governorates- especially youth, women, and marginalized communities- participated in workshops designed to identify the most pressing concerns of voters, while hundreds more submitted questions through Munathara’s dedicated online platform.

For the first time in Tunisia's history, all television and radio stations broadcast the same signal simultaneously, creating a powerful and unique sense of shared reality among voters and reaching 6.4 million viewers within the country.

The broadcast extended across the region, with channels in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, and over 20 Arab countries carrying the signal. International agencies syndicated the debates, bringing the total estimated audience to over 10 million viewers worldwide, making it a landmark moment for democratic dialogue in the region.

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