Tunisia elections: Jailing of opposition leaders leaves only two challengers for presidency

President of the Republic of Tunisia Kais Saied. (Olivier Matthys/Getty Images)

There will be three candidates, including the incumbent, in Tunisia’s October presidential elections.More than 14 candidates were disqualified and as many as eight arrested for electoral offences.Civil society groups warn that this could spell the end of democracy in Tunisia.

There will be three presidential candidates in Tunisia’s general elections on 6 October, down from 26 in 2019, in what human rights activists say is President Kais Saied’s onslaught on democracy.

They also say it’s a continuation of Saied’s repression during the December 2022 parliamentary elections in which a mere 8.8% of the electorate cast their ballots.

The January 2023 parliamentary runoffs also drew little interest, with an 11% voter turnout. Registered voters were around 7.8 million.

The 66-year-old Saied disbanded the government and parliament on 25 July 2021, then drafted a new constitution that gave him almost total power.

After bringing charges against, convicting, or imprisoning at least eight of the 14 rejected candidates, he is undoubtedly headed for victory in another contentious election.

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Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, urged the Tunisian authorities to free democratic space by releasing jailed politicians.

“The government should immediately end its political interference in the electoral process, reverse repressive measures, and allow opposition candidates to take part in the ballot,” he said.

As it stands, Saied will face off against Zouhair Maghzaoui of the People’s Movement and Ayachi Zammel of the Azimoun Movement.

According to the Tunisia Electoral Commission, candidates were disqualified for failing to meet nationality requirements, or for lacking the necessary financial guarantees, or endorsement signatures. 

The administrative court has received appeals from several candidates. But to send a loud and clear message, on 14 August Karim Gharbi, a musician and businessman who had shown interest in the top job, was sentenced to four years in prison by the Jendouba First Instance Court and banned for life from running for the presidency.

He was found guilty of buying signatures to endorse his candidature.

Abdellatif Mekki, a politician, Nizar Chaari, a television host; Mourad Messaoudi, a former judge; Mohamed Adel Dou, a retired military colonel; and Leila Hammami, an academic, were all sentenced to eight months in prison for “making donations to influence voters”.

Khawaja said the current onslaught on the opposition could kill democracy in Tunisia.

“By blocking prospective challengers, President Saied is burying what remains of Tunisia’s democracy with this election,” he said.

Last year, Tunisia banned civil society as Saied continued with a crackdown on free speech in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.

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The international community is accused of turning a blind eye to developments in Tunisia, once a beacon of democratic hope in the Arabic part of the world.

“The international community should no longer remain silent and should urge the government to rectify an already tainted electoral process,” Khawaja said.

Saied, a law professor, entered the 2019 election as an independent candidate with a promise to tackle corruption and reform electoral laws. 

On 23 October 2019, he took over as president after defeating Nabil Karoui in the second round of voting with 72.71% of the vote.

The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

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