TUNIS: Tunisia has begun candidacy submissions for its upcoming presidential election slated to be held on October 6, amid significant constraints on hopefuls challenging incumbent President Kais Saied.
A number of requirements and conditions to run for office have changed under Saied, 66, who was elected democratically in 2019 but orchestrated a power grab in 2021.
Candidates to qualify to appear on the ballot, are required to gather “an enormous number” of signatures, said Amine Kharrat, a political analyst at independent observatory Al Bawsala.
“The conditions have been hardened,” Isabelle Werenfels, North Africa expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told Western media.
A number of would-be candidates will not be able to even obtain the initial candidacy form as they are in jail. Among them are Ghazi Chaouchi, head of the social-democrat party Democratic Current and Issam Chebbi, leader of the centrist party Al Joumhouri.
The two politicians detained for “plotting against the state,” are among over 20 of Saied’s opponents held since February 2023. Abir Moussi, critic of Saied and head of the Free Destourian Party, has also been detained on similar allegations since October last year.
Amnesty International described the arrests as a “politically motivated witch hunt.” Its Secretary General Agnes Callamard last week said that since Saied’s power grab, “violations that we thought part of Tunisia’s past are becoming more and more discernible and systematic.”
Tunisia is still trying to cope with an economic crisis that has seen many Tunisians join sub-Saharan African migrants seeking to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean.
