The Tunisian regime continues to launch arbitrary arrests against rivals of current President Kais Saied in the presidential elections.
The Court of First Instance in Tunis ruled on Monday night to imprison three candidates for the October 6 presidential election under the false pretense of “forging endorsements.”
“The Court of First Instance ruled to imprison Abdel Latif Al-Makki (head of the Action and Achievement Party), Nizar Al-Shaari (businessman), and Mohamed Adel Al-Daw (retired officer), with a lifetime ban from running, pending the case related to fabricating endorsements for the presidential elections, and offering gifts with the intention of influencing voters,” according to their local radio station, “Mosaique.”
The radio broadcast further stated that “the same court ruled to imprison potential candidates (who have not yet submitted their files) Murad Masoudi, a dismissed judge, and Leila Hammami, an independent, for the same period, with the sentence being implemented urgently, considering that they are on the run.”
According to the same source, the court of first instance decided to imprison two detained defendants who were involved in the campaigns of candidates Al-Shaari and Al-Makki for terms varying from three to eight months.
According to a previous statement made by Farouk Bouasker, the head of the electoral commission in Tunisia, the period for accepting presidential candidacy files began on July 29 and ends today, Tuesday. The electoral commission will make a decision on them between August 7 and 10.
A candidate must gather ten votes from the first chamber of parliament, the House of People’s Representatives; ten votes from the second chamber, the Council of Regions and Provinces; forty votes from the heads of regional, local, or municipal councils; or ten thousand votes from voters in ten electoral districts, with a minimum of five hundred voters in each district.
The opposition’s worries that critical voices will continue to be persecuted in the run-up to the elections are strengthened by the verdict rendered against Kais Saied’s rivals in the presidential race.
The government of President Saied is accused by the opposition parties, many of whose leaders are incarcerated, of pressuring the courts to bring charges against Saied’s opponents in the 2024 elections in order to help him secure a second term.
Parties assert that the holding of free and fair elections depends on the release of political prisoners and the freedom of the press to operate without interference from the state.
Since February 11, the Tunisian authorities have carried out an arrest campaign against political leaders, media professionals, and activists, who consider the exceptional measures imposed by President Kais Saied a coup against the revolution’s constitution (the 2014 constitution) and the consecration of absolute one-man rule.
