Tunisia’s electoral authority on Monday definitively approved just two candidates to challenge President Kais Saied in elections next month in the struggling North African country — and one of them was promptly arrested.
Businessman candidate Ayachi Zammel was taken into custody Monday in an investigation into allegations relating to falsification of signatures from registered voters, his lawyer Saber Laabidi told the Associated Press.
Also Monday, Tunisia’s electoral authority confirmed that only incumbent Saied, Zammel, who leads a small pro-business party, and Zouhair Maghzaoui, a former left-wing pan-Arabist member of parliament, could run for president in the Oct. 6 election. A total of 17 candidates had initially sought to join the race.
Observers have expressed alarm at growing signs of democratic backsliding in Tunisia ahead of campaigning, which kicks off Sept. 14. Saied has imprisoned political opponents, suspended parliament and rewritten the constitution, consolidating his grip on the presidency in the country.
The electoral authority’s decision Monday flew in the face of a decision last week by Tunisia’s highest administrative court, which ruled in favor of reinstating three other candidates who had initially been barred from running by the electoral commission.
The electoral commission refused to reinstate them, arguing Monday that it didn’t receive the administrative court’s ruling within the legal deadlines. Electoral commission president Farouk Bouaskar also cited a shortage of endorsements or the required financial deposit of 10,000 dinars (3,000 euros).
Critics called the commission’s decision politically motivated.
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