Elected from Abroad: Candidates and Elected Representatives in the Tunisian Overseas Constituencies since 2011

This paper focuses on the election of special representatives of emigrants in the Tunisian Constituent Assembly in 2011 and in the Tunisian Parliament in 2014. In so doing, it aims to look at overseas constituencies as the genesis of new political spaces. While most countries have granted voting rights to their citizens living abroad, few have allowed directly elected special representatives of emigrants in their national legislatures. The growing literature on external voting has mostly focused on the reason why States adopt external voting provisions and the conditions under which such provisions are implemented. More recently, researchers have also started to explore the voting behaviour of electors abroad (turnout, political preferences). In contrast, the election of special representatives of emigrants is a research topic that remains overlooked. This paper will analyse election campaigns, candidates, and elected representatives in a transnational context. What are the issues at stake in the election framed at home and abroad? Which kind of electoral know-how and political capital is required to win an election abroad? To what extent does the creation of overseas constituencies contribute to political elite renewal (or reproduction)? The reason why Tunisia represents a stimulating case study is twofold. Unlike most countries, Tunisian emigrants have been granted a large number of special representatives in the Constituent Assembly and, subsequently, in the Parliament (18 seats out of 217). As a consequence, the overseas constituencies represented an important electoral stake and election campaigns abroad involved all the main political parties and hundreds of candidates. Furthermore, the Tunisian diasporic political landscape is historically diverse and dynamic, even more so since the Uprising. In addition, Tunisian activists abroad are usually deeply embedded in the host society, in particular those who live in France, which is the main destination for Tunisian migrants since the 1960s. Therefore, Tunisian electoral campaigns abroad also involve local organizations, such as migrants’ associations, civil right or religious organizations, and occasionally local political parties. This paper builds on three sets of primary sources: first, semi-structured interviews with special representatives of Tunisian emigrants, in particular those elected in European overseas constituencies; second, election campaign material collected during fieldwork in Paris in 2014 (parliamentary and presidential elections); and third, a bibliographic database of front-runners in the overseas constituencies in 2011 and 2014.