Election observers accuse Tunisia's electoral authorities of bias

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian election officials on Monday reiterated their decision to deny accreditation to some election observation groups, saying the move shows that the North African country's October presidential election will be neither free nor fair.

The Independent High Electoral Authority (ISIE) said in a statement that several civil society groups that had applied for accreditation had received a “huge sum” of foreign funds “of suspicious origin” and that they should therefore be denied accreditation to observe elections.

Although the ISIE did not explicitly name the groups, one of its commission members said last weekend that it had submitted formal accusations to the Tunisian public prosecutor's office against two specific groups, alleging, among other things, that they had accepted funds from abroad.

The two organizations, I-Watch and Mourakiboun (meaning “Observers” in Arabic), are not the first civil society groups to be persecuted by the Tunisian authorities. Under President Kais Saied, NGOs have increasingly come under scrutiny for their work, which ranges from helping migrants to human rights and local development efforts.

Throughout his time in office, Saied has accused civil society groups that criticize his style of governing of having nefarious motives and being puppets of foreign countries. He claimed that NGOs funded from abroad are intent on destroying the social fabric and domestic politics of the North African country.

Some of the affected groups have become increasingly critical of the authorities' decisions to arrest potential candidates and exclude others from the election in recent months. Other groups, including I-Watch and Mourakiboun, have applied for accreditation to act as independent election observers in the October 6 vote.

In a statement, I-Watch criticized ISIE's efforts to question its funding, calling them “a desperate attempt to divert public opinion by concealing the violations of the law committed and the inability to implement laws.”

Siwar Gmati, a member of the monitoring group, told the Associated Press that any foreign funding I-Watch has received in the past for certain projects has been in accordance with Tunisian law and has been transparently disclosed.

“We have not asked any donors for funds for this election observation mission,” she said, denying ISIE’s claims.

Financial information published on I-Watch's website shows that some of its previous programs were funded by organizations such as Transparency International, Deutsche Welle Akademie (DW), as well as the European Union and the US Embassy.

Gmati said I-Watch no longer accepts U.S. funding and is currently involved in two projects with the EU for which it received funding last year.

The dispute with the potential election observers is the latest in a series of controversies that have plagued the ISIE in recent months. Critics have accused it of a lack of independence and of acting on behalf of the president. Last week, dozens of Tunisians criticising the commission's role protested outside its headquarters.

Tensions rose last week after the electoral authority released a final list of candidates that included only two challengers besides Saied, overturning a court order requiring it to reinstate three other candidates it had previously barred from running.

The electoral commission argued that it did not receive the court's ruling within the legal deadline. Critics called the rejection politically motivated, and a court spokesman told local radio that disregarding a court order in this way was unprecedented in Tunisia.

ISIE rejected I-Watch's election observation request in July, after which the NGO appealed in August and asked for clarifications. Despite ISIE's public statements, Gmati said it had not yet responded directly to I-Watch's requests.

I-Watch described ISIE’s public statements as a “flimsy pretext” to exclude election observers from monitoring the October 6 presidential election.

“It has clearly interfered in the presidential program and become a tool of the dictatorship,” the monitoring group said of the electoral authority.

The conflict between Tunisia and election observers is the latest event to mar this year's election season in Tunisia, with presidential candidates being arrested, barred from running or denied a place on the ballot. This is a departure from elections the country has held since it became a bastion of democracy following the ousting of its long-time dictator in the 2011 Arab Spring. Observers had previously praised Tunisia for holding free and fair elections.

Since Saied took power, however, Tunisia's once vibrant NGO scene has changed a lot. In 2022, he targeted civil society groups that accept foreign funding and declared that no one has the right to interfere in Tunisia's politics and decisions.