According to the Supreme Court, the two opposition candidates must re-enter. Thousands of people protested against the Kais Said government on Friday.
Last Friday, Tunisia saw its largest anti-government rally in two years. Photo: Anis Millie/ap
Tunis rtr/dpa/ap | Tensions are running high in Tunisia less than a month before the presidential election. On Saturday, the Supreme Court ordered the electoral commission to reinstate two candidates. The judges warned that failing to do so could cast doubt on the legitimacy of the October 6 election. On Friday, the largest anti-government demonstration in two years took place, with thousands protesting restrictions on democratic rights.
They gathered in the capital Tunis in the evening to denounce incumbent Kais Said’s authoritarian government style. “Do not be afraid, there will be no intimidation,” some shouted, according to witnesses. Some chanted slogans from the protests that began in 2010 and led to the overthrow of longtime ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Many of those who oppose President Saled fear the election will be rigged.
In early September, the electoral commission refused to follow the Supreme Court’s decision and reinstated candidates Abdellaif Mekki, Mondher Znaidi and Imed Daimi. The commission had previously barred three of Said’s opponents from the race due to allegations of fraud. Commissioner Farouk Bouasker dismissed claims that the commission was working to keep Said in power, saying only the commission could guarantee the legitimacy of a presidential election.
Znaidi and Mekki filed a new appeal against the committee’s decision, which the Supreme Court accepted on Saturday. The judges said the committee, handpicked by President Said, had a duty to enforce the order.
Said was democratically elected in 2019. In 2021, he dissolved parliament by decree and adopted a constitution that vested all essential powers in the president. He justified this through the years-long crisis in Tunisia, which critics say is a coup. The Arab Spring, which began in Tunisia in 2011, raised hopes for democracy in the region.
Ennahda reports arrests of party members
Meanwhile, the country’s largest opposition Islamist Ennahda party reported that at least 80 of its members were arrested in nationwide airstrikes last week. Lawyer Latifa Habechi said the number of people arrested could be as high as 116.
Ahmed Gaaloul, a member of Ennahda’s executive committee and former sports minister, said several senior party officials had also been detained, including another member of the party’s executive committee, Mohamed Guelwi, and Mohamed Ali Boukatim, a regional party leader from the Tunis suburb of Ben Arous. It was initially unclear exactly what they were being charged with. Habechi said they could be charged with violating anti-terrorism laws.
The country’s most prominent opposition politicians, including Ennahda party leader Rached Ghannouchi, are already in jail.
