by Nurat Uthman
The Tunisian administrative court today upheld an appeal by prominent politician Imed Daimi to be allowed to return to the race for the presidential election expected on 6 October, Daimi said according to Reuters.
Daimi became the third candidate to be restored to the race by the court, after Abdellatif Mekki and Mondher Znaidi, whose candidacies were previously rejected by the Election Commission due to insufficient endorsements.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Tunisian government to stop what it considered “political interference” in the presidential election.
President Kais Saied has repeatedly said that the judicial system in his country is independent and that he does not interfere in its affairs, however the opposition accuses him of using the judiciary to prosecute his opponents and potential competitors in the presidential election.
Saied, who dissolved parliament in 2021 and has since been ruling by decree, denies suppressing his rivals, asserting that the law applies equally to all. However, opposition parties claim that these legal moves are part of a broader effort to return the North African country to the autocratic system which was in place before the 2011 revolution.
Of the 17 candidates who submitted their interest to run in the ballot, the electoral commission has accepted only three: the current President Kais Saied, the Secretary-General of the People’s Movement, Zouhair Maghzaoui, and the head of the Azimoun Movement, Ayachi Zammel.
Last April, the National Salvation Front, the largest opposition coalition, announced that it would not participate in the elections, claiming that the conditions for competition were not present.
Meanwhile, the authorities say that the elections meet the conditions of integrity, transparency and fair competition.
