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| Africa North |
| In Kais Saied's Tunisia, an election with few opponents |
| 2024-08-18 |
| [NEWARAB] ''I'm sorry, I can't take the risk to talk to you. It's already been quite a journey,'' said one presidential candidate after turning down an interview request from The New Arab. In Tunisia, an increasing number of public figures are declining to engage with foreign media as private meetings with NGOs, embassy officials, or foreign press are being used in legal cases against political opponents of President Kais Saied. Tunisia is experiencing a never-before-seen presidential election. Under Ben Ali's regime, the situation was straightforward: even the few opponents who managed to run as candidates could not criticise the regime without risking imprisonment. During the democratic era, Tunisia saw hundreds of political activists and leaders participate in the presidential elections of 2014 and 2019. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... Kais Saied's coup in July 2021 marked the beginning of an ongoing authoritarian shift. The army was deployed to close the elected parliament, hundreds of Tunisians were arrested for opposing the government, an anti-press decree led to widespread censorship (and self-censorship) of mainstream media, and the parliamentary system was abandoned after the largely boycotted 2022 constitutional referendum. The 2023 Human Rights Report concludes that Tunisia ''experienced further regression in terms of human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedomat the convenience of the state... and the rule of law during 2023 in the absence of genuine checks and balances on President Kais Saied's power''. As Kais Saied announced presidential elections for 6 October, the political climate of the runoff was not the one Tunisians had become accustomed to in recent years. The leader of the Free Destourian Party and former lawyer of Ben Ali, Abir Moussi, the leader of the Islamist Ennahda party Rached Ghannouchi, the former leader of the centre-left party Ghazi Chaouachi, and at least 60 other political opponents are currently imprisoned. With most prominent opposition figures behind bars, many sought to exploit this political space to challenge the authoritarian shift and present an alternative vision. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... most were barred from running due to new administrative requirements imposed by the electoral committee (ISIE). |
| Posted by:Fred |