Olfa Hamdi, Tunisian presidential candidate: "It is time to look again at the Mediterranean as a shared space".

Engineer, businesswoman, entrepreneur and candidate for the Tunisian presidency at the age of 36. This is the cover letter of Olfa Hamdi (Gafsa, 1988), in whom the original spirit of the Revolution of Dignity, which in 2010 ignited the fuse of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, lives on: the incandescent desire to change things. Some have done so, or at least have begun to do so, and that is why Hamdi, founder and president of the Third Republic Party, prefers to speak of "evolution" rather than "revolution". This is what she said during her visit to the University of Navarra, where she participated in the workshop St. Thomas More, organized by the Degree of Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), of the School of Philosophy and Letters, and in the challenge ICS 2024-25 'Orientalism and Occidentalism: crossed views', of the Institute for Culture and Society. Institute for Culture and Society (ICS).

Hamdi defended that his generation is "committed to continuing the democratic transition": "Despite having developed institutional and constitutional debates and reforms, it is essential to achieve economic reforms to create an environment that allows us to evolve. That is why I speak of evolution, which implies the ability to continue with change by using the existing Structures and improving them". With this conviction, he decided to found his party, "a political platform within the existing Structures " whose pillars are democracy, economic freedom and the rule of law.

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In 2024, she was a candidate for the presidency of her country, until President Kais Saied approved a modification of the electoral law to establish that only citizens over 40 years of age could run. For this reason, she was left out of the electoral degree program . "They changed the rules of the game to eliminate certain sectors that are uncomfortable for them. The challenge issue one is to have independent Structures that allow us to compete fairly in the elections", he claims.

Being a woman has also added obstacles in her way. Hamdi denounces pressure to leave politics and regrets that there is still a section of the population that believes that when a woman emerges on the political scene, there are men behind the curtain: "It's as if they cannot believe that a woman has her own ideas or is a good listener to others. However, she also notes that "women's participation in politics is significant in Tunisia." Najla Bouden was appointed prime minister in 2021 becoming the first female head of government in the Arab world, although she ended up being dismissed two years later. Since March 21, another woman, Sara Zaafarani, has held the position .

Bridge between continents

In his lecture, entitled Tunisia and the Mediterranean: facing challenges and forging a shared future, Hamdi stressed that, first and foremost, Tunisia is "a Mediterranean country" and claimed its potential as a bridge between Europe and Africa: "It is time to look again at the Mediterranean as a shared space. There is a great opportunity now. Europe is going through many changes and its leadership is trying to reinvent itself geopolitically". Thus, he said that "it would be positive for Europe to look at Tunisia". Along these lines, he considered it a core topic to reinforce or redesign alliances, such as the partnership agreement that Tunisia established with the European Union in 1995 and whose changes, in his opinion, have not borne the expected fruits: "An alliance with Tunisia would create employment and would give a competitive advantage to European companies to enter African markets. It would also reduce illegal immigration and bring our communities together".

Precisely on the migratory drama, which daily claims lives in Mediterranean waters, the president of the Third Republic Party regretted that "our beautiful Mediterranean has become a human cemetery. It should not be like this. And she assured that "Tunisia is committed to protecting its borders and stopping illegal immigration. We do not want to lose our young people at sea. We need to give them a chance to decide and serve their country, to stay."

That is why strengthening and creating new ties between Mediterranean countries is one of his main goals: "Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Malta in the north; and Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya in the south, we have the potential to produce more, export more and attract more tourism. And we could unlock that potential if we work together again."