Tunisian police arrested presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel early Monday morning, raising concerns among rights groups and the opposition about the potential exclusion of prominent rivals to President Kais Saied from the upcoming election. A member of Zammel’s campaign confirmed the arrest, stating that police detained him at his home around 3:00 a.m. on suspicion of falsifying popular endorsements.
The arrest occurred just as the electoral commission prepared to announce the final list of candidates for the presidential election scheduled for October 6. Zammel’s campaign described the situation as “absurd” and suggested it was an attempt to remove him from the race.
The electoral commission and the interior ministry have not yet commented on the arrest.
This development follows a recent decision by Tunisia’s Administrative Court, the highest judicial authority for electoral disputes, which reinstated three previously rejected candidates—Mondher Znaidi, AbdelLatif Mekki, and Imed Daimi—into the election race. These candidates joined Ayachi Zammel, Zouhair Maghzaoui, and incumbent President Kais Saied on the list of accepted contenders.
However, the head of the electoral commission, Farouk Bouasker, announced that the commission would review the Administrative Court’s decision, along with other judicial rulings against candidates, before finalizing the candidate list. Bouasker’s statement sparked widespread concern among rights groups and politicians, who interpreted it as a potential signal of the exclusion of certain candidates to favor President Saied.
The electoral commission has denied these accusations, maintaining its neutrality. However, constitutional law experts in Tunisia have emphasized that the commission must adhere to the court’s decision to maintain the election’s credibility.
In response, political parties and human rights groups issued a joint statement calling for a protest near the election headquarters on Monday to demand the implementation of the court’s ruling and an end to what they describe as “arbitrary restrictions” and intimidation tactics.
President Saied, who dissolved parliament and assumed control of all governmental powers in 2021—a move the opposition labeled a coup—previously declared that he “would not hand over the country to non-patriots.”
