By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Hundreds of Tunisians on Sunday staged a peaceful protest against President Kais Saied, accusing him of tightening the grip of authoritarian rule as well as stifling political competition in the country.
This comes two weeks before the October 6 presidential poll in which Saied is seeking re-election.
Amid a heavy presence of security officials, demonstrators for a second week marched along the capital, Tunis’ main avenue, a focal point of 2011 “Arab Spring” revolution.
They chanted slogans including “The people want the fall of the regime” and “Out with dictator Saied”.
The protest is in response to a proposal by the handpicked lawmakers in the National Assembly to strip the administrative court its authority to adjudicate electoral disputes, a move that the opposition says would discredit the upcoming election and pave the way for Saied to secure a second term.
“Saied’s steps show that he is no longer popular and he fears losing the election”, Nabil Hajji, the leader of the opposition Attayar party said.
Heritage Times HT reports that the North African country has come under heavy political tension after the electoral instituted by Saied disqualified three prominent presidential candidates, Mondher Znaidi, Abdellatif Mekki and Imed Daimi.
The commission ignored the administrative court, the highest judicial body in election-related disputes, and allowed only two candidates to run against Saied.
One of them, Ayachi Zammel, is in jail after being sentenced on Wednesday to 20 months in prison for allegedly falsifying signatures on election paperwork in what he calls a politically motivated case.
