by Nurat Uthman
Tunisian President Kais Saied on Friday announced that he’ll seek a new five-year term in an election set for October.
“I officially announce my candidacy for the October 6 presidential election in order to keep up the fight in the battle for national liberation,” Saied, who has ruled by decree since suspending parliament in July 2021, said in a video released by his office.
Speaking in the southern region of Tatouine, the 66-year-old said he was answering the “country’s sacred call” which left him no choice but to run for a second term.
In his announcement, Saied called on “everyone preparing to sponsor (candidates) to steer off any corruption.”
Several would-be challengers to the president who had announced their candidacy are either in prison or being prosecuted.
The re-election bid was announced the same day a court jailed opposition leader Lotfi Mraihi, a potential presidential election candidate, to eight months in prison on a charge of vote buying.
The court also banned Mraihi, leader of the Republican Union Party and one of the most prominent critics of President Saied, from running in presidential elections for life.
