Tunisians Set to Protest Against Authoritarianism Ahead of Upcoming Presidential Election

Tunisians set to protest against authoritarianism ahead of upcoming presidential election

A woman holds up a banner during a demonstration against Tunisian President Kais Saied in Tunis, Tunisia, 15 May 2022.

Tunisians are expected to take to the streets on Friday to denounce the uproar surrounding the country's upcoming elections, with candidates arrested, barred from voting or banned from politics for life.

The newly created Tunisian Network for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms hopes to draw attention to what it calls a "rise of authoritarianism. "

"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 North African country's Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) has been at loggerheads with judges over which candidates will be allowed to appear on the ballot in the October 6 election.

Critics of the commission have accused it of lacking independence and of acting on behalf of President Kais Saied, who appoints its members.

The commission rejected organizations that had applied to be election observers and said it would not add to the ballot three candidates who had won court appeals challenging the authority's previous rejections.

The man 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. Mr. Mekki was arrested in July on political charges, according to his lawyers, and banned from politics for life.

Last month, 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, Mr. 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, Mr. 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.

Last week, the International Crisis Group said Tunisia was in a "deteriorating situation," and Human Rights Watch 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.