Why is Tunisia’s Administrative Court at odds with its electoral authority?
A dispute has arisen between Tunisia’s courts and electoral authority that could determine at least the next few years of the country’s future.
Essentially, the dispute is over the eligibility of three candidates in Tunisia’s October 6 presidential election.
How many candidates are running for president?
Three, including President Kais Saied, but whether one of the candidates remains in the race appears uncertain.
Of the 17 candidates who applied to the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) in August, only Zouhair Magzhaoui and Ayachi Zammel were allowed onto the ballot with Saied.
Magzhaoui, of the left-wing nationalist People’s Movement, and Zammel, of the liberal Azimoun party, are not expected to win.
Zammel’s campaign is in trouble after police arrested him on Monday for allegedly falsifying endorsements.
Mahdi Abdel Jawad, a member of his team, said it was to discourage Zammel from running.
Zammel can still run despite being detained.
So 14 candidates were declared ineligible?
Yes.
Three of them – former ministers Imed Daimi and Mondher Znaidi and opposition leader Abdellatif Mekki – won their appeals of the ISIE’s decision before the Administrative Court last week.
But the ISIE dismissed the ruling, saying at a news briefing accessible only to state media, that the court had not communicated its ruling to the ISIE in the legally mandated 48 hours.
A court spokesperson denied the allegation on the same day.
ISIE chief Farouk Bouasker said its list of three candidates was “definitive” and “not subject to appeal”.
Nobody raised a fuss?
Civil society organisations, human rights groups and labour organisations have objected.
On Tuesday, the Tunisian General Labour Union, the country’s largest trade union, called the ruling “illegal”.
On Saturday and Sunday, 26 Tunisian and international NGOs along with 200 academics and activists signed a letter welcoming the Administrative Court’s decision and demanding pluralism be respected.
