Tunisia's Election Commission Rejects Court Decisions to Reinstate 3 Candidates in Presidential Race

Tunisia's High Elections Authority on Monday refused to implement decisions by the Administrative Court, the country's highest judicial body, on candidacy appeals, saying they were impossible to implement.

The commission announced, in a statement read by its president Farouk Bouasker on state television, that the final list of presidential candidates includes Ayachi Zemal and Zouhair Maghzaoui in addition to Kais Saied, thus excluding three prominent candidates who the administrative court ordered to be reinstated in the race last week.

The head of the authority said that "it was not possible to view copies of the rulings issued recently by the general session of the Administrative Court because the authority was not notified of them in accordance with the law within 48 hours of the date of their issuance by the court," stressing that "the list of accepted candidates approved by the authority's council held on August 10 is considered a final list and not subject to appeal."

The commission stated that the election campaign will start on September 14.

Out of 17 candidacy files, the electoral commission had previously announced the acceptance of the files of 3 candidates: the current president Kais Saied, the secretary-general of the People's Movement, Zuhair Al-Maghzawi, and the head of the "Azimoun" movement, Al-Ayachi Zamal, before the administrative court returned Mondher Al-Zanaidi, Abdel Latif Al-Makki, and Imad Al-Daimi to the race after accepting their appeals. However, today's decision by the electoral commission means their exclusion again.

In this context, the campaign of Tunisian presidential candidate Abdellatif Mekki expressed its "strong condemnation of what the electoral commission announced regarding its insistence on the same method of exclusion and blatant violation of the law in a climate of pressure and intimidation against serious candidates."

In a statement, Al-Maki's campaign called on "all candidates to coordinate and take all necessary legal and combative measures to confront these violations," according to its statement.

Earlier on Monday, a member of the campaign of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zemal said that Tunisian police arrested Zemal at dawn, hours before the electoral commission was due to announce the final list of candidates accepted to run in next month's elections.

Reuters quoted campaign member Mahdi Abdel Jawad as saying that police arrested Zamal from his home at 3 a.m. on suspicion of forging popular endorsements.

The Tunisian authorities did not immediately comment on what the Zamal campaign member said regarding the candidate’s arrest.

Source: Agencies