By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Eleven presidential candidates seeking to run in the Oct. 6 presidential election in Tunisia have accused the government of President Kais Saied of deploying “arbitrary restrictions” and intimidation to exclude them from the electoral process.
The opposition figures in a joint statement said this is a grand plan to pave an easy way for Saied to run unchallenged for a second term of five years in office.
“The violations have affected most of the serious candidates to the point that they appear to indicate a desire to exclude them (from the election) and restrict them in order to make way for a specific candidate,” they said in the joint statement.
This comes ahead of August 6, the deadline for registration of every presidential candidate.
None of the 11 opposition candidates have obtained a document certifying that they have no criminal record, a new criteria to allow them officially register as presidential candidates.
The spokesperson of the country’s electoral Commission has however assured that the interior ministry would contact the candidates to provide them with the necessary document, but did not state when that would happen.
The Commission also denied allegation of bias.
In a separate statement on Thursday, 17 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including Human Rights League, and six opposition parties criticised government control of public media, the judiciary, and the Elections Commission.
“A climate of intimidation of opponents and journalists through the use of the judiciary and the Election Commission to serve the interests of the authorities and the lack of equal opportunities does not provide guarantees for free and fair elections,” they said in the statement.
One of the 11 presidential candidates, Nizar Chaari, said his campaign manager and a volunteer member had been arrested and that police had confiscated the signatures he had received from the public endorsing his candidacy.
The Public Prosecutor’s office said the two people had been arrested over their seizure of a database and the forging of endorsements, accusations that Chaari’s campaign denied.
Heritage Times HT recalls that President Saied had on July 19 announced that he would seek another five-year term.
Elected in 2019, Saied dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree in a move the opposition described as a coup.
He has said he will not hand over power to what he calls “non-patriots”.
