Three candidates to stand in Tunisia polls: authority

By AFP - Sep 02,2024 - Last updated at Sep 02,2024

Farouk Bouasker, president of the High Independent Authority for Elections (ISIE), gives a press conference in Tunis on Aug. 10, 2024, ahead of the upcoming presidential elections (AFP photo)

TUNIS — Tunisia's electoral authority on Monday announced it had approved three presidential candidates for the October 6 election, including incumbemt President Kais Saied, dismissing three other would-be candidates despite court rulings allowing them to run.

The three dismissed candidates had last week won appeals at the Administrative Court against a decision from the High Independent Authority for Elections (ISIE) disqualifying them from running.

The authority had said they had not obtained enough of the endorsements required to run for the top post. They were among 14 hopefuls whose bids for the race were rejected.

On Monday, the ISIE said its initial list was "definitive and not subject to appeal".

It said it was maintaining the same list announced on August 10 because "the administrative court did not officially communicate its decisions within the 48-hour deadline according to the law".

As it stands, former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui and businessman Ayachi Zammel are set to challenge Saied, the election's frontrunner.

Zammel was however arrested earlier Monday on charges of lying about details of his campaign, according to his team.

Zammel is the only approved candidate to be arrested, but he joins a list of presidential hopefuls who have been imprisoned or are facing prosecution.

Saied was democratically elected in 2019 but orchestrated a sweeping power grab in 2021.

On Saturday, a petition signed by prominent Tunisians and civil society groups urged that rejected candidates be allowed to stand in the October election.

Among the rejected candidates are Imed Daimi, an adviser to former president Moncef Marzouki, former minister Mondher Zenaidi and opposition party leader Abdellatif Mekki.

The petition said the administrative court's rulings on appeals "are enforceable and cannot be contested by any means whatsoever".

It called on the ISIE to "respect the law and avoid any practice that could undermine the transparency and integrity of the electoral process".

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