Tunisians to Take to the Streets to Protest Election Uproar
Tunisians are expected to gather on Friday to denounce the tumult surrounding the country’s upcoming elections, with candidates facing arrest, disqualification, or lifetime bans from politics. The newly formed Tunisian Network for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms is organizing the demonstration to highlight what it calls a “rise of authoritarianism” in the country.
“This Friday’s demonstration is a reaction to the violation of rights and freedoms that we are witnessing today in Tunisia. The other reason is to see some citizens deprived of their right to run in the presidential election,” said Mohieddine Lagha, secretary general of the Tunisian League for Human Rights.
The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) has been at odds with judges over which candidates will be allowed to run in the October 6 election. Critics accuse the commission of lacking independence and acting on behalf of President Kais Saied, who appoints its members. The commission has rejected organizations seeking to observe the election and refused to add three candidates who won court appeals challenging its previous rejections.
One of the candidates affected is former health minister Abdellatif Mekki, a former member of the Islamist Ennahda movement who is now running with his own party, Work and Achievement. Mekki was arrested in July on political charges and banned from politics for life. However, a court ordered the electoral authority to put him on the ballot, and his candidacy was reinstated for a second time earlier this week. The ISIE rejected the court’s first decision and has not commented on the latest one.
“We have called for a broad participation of the population in this demonstration because we hope to put pressure on a mass mobilization,” Ahmed Neffati, Mekki’s campaign manager, told The Associated Press. “Tunisians will not give up their right to free and democratic elections,” he added.
Despite expectations of a barely contested election, President Saied has shaken up Tunisian politics in recent months. Last month, he fired most of his cabinet, and his critics have decried a wave of arrests and gag orders against leading opposition figures that they see as politically motivated. The International Crisis Group has described Tunisia’s situation as “deteriorating,” and Human Rights Watch has called on the electoral commission to reinstate the candidates.
“Holding elections amid such repression makes a mockery of the right of Tunisians to participate in free and fair elections,” said Bassam Khawaja, the organization’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
