Tunisia’s presidential contenders are “intellectuals who approach readers as intellectual voters,” says Kamal Al-Hamaidi, the manager of Al-Kitab bookshop in the capital, discussing a number of works authored by the presidential candidates.

With the first round of voting in the presidential elections due to take place on 23 November, Al-Kitab has created a special section for books by the candidates who are running.

Eight books are displayed in this section; seven of them are written by candidates, while the eighth one, which is in French, is authored by Hala Beji about frontrunner Beji Caid Essebsi. The book describes Essebsi, the head of the Nidaa party, which won the majority of seats in the newly elected parliament, as a "Tunisian innovator.”

Essebsi himself wrote a book on Tunisia’s first president Habib Bourgeiba in 2009.

Also on display in Al-Kitab’s election section is a book in French by Mouncef Marzouki, the interim president of Tunisia and the Essebsi’s main rival for the upcoming vote.

Alongside the French book, entitled if Arabs Talk, Marzouki has also recently written a book in Arabic called No Choice but to win, the slogan of his campaign.

Marzouki has said that the revenues generated by the books will go to funding his electoral campaign.

Presidential candidate and well-known journalist El-Safy Saeed has also published a book, called The Post-Revolution Controversy. Saeed is known for his boldness and has also written a famous book about former dictator Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife: "The prostate years". 

One of the most famous books in Tunisia is Saeed's "Bourguiba: an Autobiography semi-forbidden", which was printed in Beirut in 2000, the same year that Bourguiba died. the book was not published until after the revolution after a book censorship in the country was lifted.  

Leftist politician Hamma Hammami of the Popular Front party – another frontrunner – has written a number of works, and in Al-Kitab his book Socialism and Women Today is on display.

One of the lower-polling candidates, Mehrez Bousyan, has also written a book called My Vision of Tunisia.

Candidate Mostafa Ben Gaafar, the chairman of the Constituent Assembly and leader of Al-Takatol party, has published a work called The Difficult Road to Democracy.

El Hamaidi told Ahram that the bestselling books in this section were No Choice But To Win, followed by Socialism and Women Today. It remains to be seen whether their popularity at the bookshop will mean success in the upcoming vote for Marzouki and Hammami.