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Elections in Tunisia: Electoral body accused of supporting Saied by excluding competitors

When the Tunisian administrative court last week upheld the appeals of three candidates excluded from the presidential election, surprise gave way to hope that the election would be truly competitive.

Nevertheless, the Tunisian electoral authority announced on Monday that only three candidates – including President Kais Saied – would be allowed to stand in the election. The court must still decide on the appeals of the disqualified candidates.

Saied's serious rivals were the disqualified candidates: Abdellatif Mekki, a former leader of the “democratic-Islamic” Ennahda party, Mondher Zenaidi, a minister under former autocrat Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali, and Imed Daimi, an adviser to former President Moncef Marzouki, who is also close to Ennahda.

Explaining the exclusion of the three candidates, the chairman of the Independent High Electoral Authority (Isie), Farouk Bouasker, stated that “the administrative court had not officially announced its decisions. [to the electoral body] within the statutory period of 48 hours”.

He added that the initial list published by Isie on August 10 was “final and not subject to appeal,” ignoring the ruling of the Administrative Court, which some lawyers consider to be the highest authority in the country.

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Isie's decision sparked an outcry, as legal experts have insisted in recent days that the Administrative Court's rulings are final and irrevocable, and reignited criticism of a body accused of being influenced by the ruling government.

Daimi called the announcement a “big farce,” adding that he did not recognize the decision and promised that he would “continue the fight.”

Zenaidi's lawyer, meanwhile, said he rejected “this illegal decision” and announced that he would appeal. The candidate's lawyers stressed that there were no legal steps preventing him from running in the presidential election.

“With its decision today, the Electoral Commission has lost its independence and made an arbitrary political decision” that “sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the rule of law and institutions and threatens internal peace,” his legal team said.

On Saturday, 26 Tunisian and international NGOs and nearly 200 prominent figures, including many lawyers, called on Isie to respect the administrative court's decisions, stressing that they were “enforceable and cannot be challenged.”

In a petition, they called on the electoral authority to “avoid any practice that could undermine the transparency and integrity of the electoral process.”

On Monday morning, several political parties and NGOs organized a demonstration in front of the Isie headquarters to put pressure on the electoral authority to respect the court's decisions.

Translation: “The 20 or so demonstrators in front of the Isie listen to Bouasker’s speech on the names of the presidential candidates live #Tunisia.”

“We know that this body is neither independent nor objective in its work,” said Sana Ghenima, president of the Femme et Leadership association, who took part in the demonstration when the Isie decision was made public. “It puts itself above the law.”

Hichem Ajbouni, a former MP and member of the centre-left Democratic Current party, added: “We live in a state where the law no longer applies and this is really worrying for the presidential elections, which risk becoming more of a farce than anything else.”

The independent political website “Kapitalis” also accused Isie of dismissing the court’s decision “with a wave of the hand”.

“This is a precedent in the history of the Isie and the Administrative Court, which calls into question the relationship and balance between the institutions of the state. The Electoral Commission is now above the jurisdictions of the country, including the administrative jurisdiction,” the letter said.

Some Tunisians expressed their anger on social media.

Well-known cartoonist Tawfiq Omran published a drawing depicting the Isie in a cage, suggesting that it lacks independence.

“A dark day in the history of Tunisia,” posted a Tunisian lawyer living abroad on X.

“IS has robbed the work of the judiciary of its essence and deprived the presidential election of any interest. The boycott becomes indispensable. This is the only way to denounce this masquerade and deprive Saied of any legitimacy.”

Translation: “I do not recognize the decisions of the Isie. #Tunisia.”

“Completely controlled”

Isie was founded in 2011 with the aim of removing the Ministry of the Interior's responsibility for organizing elections.

According to political scientist Hatem Nafti, it was hoped that the procedure used for the appointment would guarantee the independence of the body: officials are elected by a two-thirds majority in parliament.

But since Saied's coup in August 2021, in which he gave himself full power before reforming the constitution to introduce an ultra-presidential system, members of the electoral authority have been elected directly or indirectly by the president.

The current composition of the seven-member Isie is also unconstitutional: the 2022 Basic Law, promoted personally by the president, stipulates that the body must consist of nine officials.

“The so-called independent electoral authority is an authority that has lost all independence after Saied's coup,” Vincent Geisser, senior researcher at the Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Islamic World (Iremam), told French radio RFI.

“Contrary to what the name suggests [the Isie] is not independent'

– Hamza Meddeb, political scientist

“Today it is completely controlled, swallowed and sealed by the executive branch and more precisely by the president, while the chairmen of this body are directly elected by the President of the Republic.”

For political scientist Hamza Meddeb, the legitimacy of the IS party has long been damaged. This is demonstrated by its composition, the appointments made by the president and the way in which it arrogates the right to do without parliament and to interpret the laws in its own way.

“Contrary to what its name suggests,” he told Jeune Afrique, the Isie is “not independent.”

With the IS decision, the presidential election no longer has any legitimacy and will become “a simple referendum without any basis,” Meddeb added.

The reasons given by Isie chairman Bouasker were also not valid, Nafti told MEE. The body had raised numerous pretexts to annul the administrative court's decision. It had even gone so far as to suggest that certain judges were “politicized”.

“An unconstitutional body, even in light of Saied's constitution, appointed by the president, acts on behalf of the person who appointed it – and persecutes all who underline this point,” he said.

Administrative obstacles

The first selection of presidential candidates was already met with widespread criticism. Experts and candidates complained that it was difficult to collect the necessary signatures and that there were other bureaucratic hurdles.

Human Rights Watch also denounced the detention or prosecution of “at least eight candidates,” which effectively prevented them from running.

In the end, the incumbent faces only two candidates: Ayachi Zammel, an industrialist, former MP and leader of a small and little-known party, and Zouhair Maghzaoui, another former MP and leader of the Popular Movement, a party of the pan-Arab left that supported Saied's coup in 2021.

At dawn on Monday, Zammel was arrested and taken into police custody on suspicion of “forging sponsor signatures” to submit his candidacy.

Tunisia: Elections anything but fair, Saied's rivals face exclusion and challenges

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“The candidates who could pose an obstacle to Saied have been removed. We now have one candidate from the regime and another in prison,” Nafti noted.

“This reinforces the impression of a blocked election. Saied has a boulevard in front of him. And the Isie decision proves that the rule of law no longer exists.”

For Isabelle Werenfels, political scientist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), “one could say that the Isie practically decided the outcome of the vote.”

She believes that the administrative court's unexpected re-admission of the candidates “reflects friction within the elites between pro- and anti-Saied supporters, which could have a positive impact on what remains of democracy in Tunisia.”

However, these tensions could be “problematic, even dangerous, because if the president feels challenged, he could become even more authoritarian,” she told AFP.

While the election campaign is expected to begin on September 14, France 24 reported that many Tunisians are talking about organizing some form of resistance within the framework of a coalition that would unite political parties and civil society.

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