Tunisia’s upcoming general elections on 6 October will feature only three presidential candidates, a significant drop from the 26 who ran in 2019.
Human rights activists claim this reduction is part of President Kais Saied’s ongoing assault on democracy. They also highlight that this repression echoes the December 2022 parliamentary elections, where voter turnout was a mere 8.8%.
The January 2023 parliamentary runoffs saw similarly low engagement, with just 11% of voters participating out of the 7.8 million registered. Saied, now 66, dissolved the government and parliament on 25 July 2021 and later introduced a new constitution that concentrated nearly all power in his hands.
After prosecuting and imprisoning at least eight of the 14 disqualified candidates, President Kais Saied seems set to win yet another disputed election.
A regional rights advocate has called on Tunisian authorities to reopen democratic space by releasing imprisoned political figures. He stated that the government should immediately stop its political meddling in the electoral process, revoke repressive measures, and allow opposition candidates to participate.
At this point, Saied is expected to face off against Zouhair Maghzaoui from the People’s Movement and Ayachi Zammel of the Azimoun Movement. The Tunisia Electoral Commission reported that candidates were barred for not meeting nationality criteria, lacking financial guarantees, or failing to secure required endorsement signatures.
Several candidates have appealed the disqualifications in court. In a significant case on 14 August, musician and businessman Karim Gharbi, who had expressed interest in running for president, was sentenced to four years in prison and permanently banned from running for the presidency by a Tunisian court. He was convicted of purchasing signatures to endorse his candidacy.
Other notable figures, including Abdellatif Mekki, a politician; Nizar Chaari, a TV host; Mourad Messaoudi, a former judge; Mohamed Adel Dou, a retired military colonel; and Leila Hammami, an academic, each received eight-month prison sentences for “providing donations to influence voters.”
The rights advocate warned that this clampdown on opposition candidates could mark the end of democracy in Tunisia, arguing that by blocking potential challengers, President Saied is effectively dismantling what remains of Tunisia’s democratic system.
Last year, Tunisia banned civil society groups as Saied intensified his crackdown on free speech in a country once seen as the cradle of the Arab Spring.
The international community has been criticized for ignoring the developments in Tunisia, a nation once considered a beacon of democratic hope in the Arab world. The rights advocate urged global actors to speak out, insisting that the international community should no longer remain silent and should pressure the government to correct an already compromised electoral process.
Saied, a former law professor, entered the 2019 election as an independent candidate with promises to fight corruption and reform electoral laws. On 23 October 2019, he assumed the presidency after winning 72.71% of the vote in the second round, defeating his rival Nabil Karoui.