Tunisia’s largest union condemned Tuesday a “dangerous violation of the law” after only three candidates won approval for next month’s presidential election, with court rulings in favour of three other contenders ignored.
The ISIE electoral board on Monday issued its final list of candidates approved to stand against President Kais Saied in the October 6 election.
The list, however, excluded three other hopefuls who had won appeals with the administrative court against ISIE, which initially rejected their candidacies.
The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) said the board’s decision was “political” and “illegal”.
The ISIE went against “judicial authority and its decisions”, with a bias that “will have prior influence on the election’s results”, it added.
The three dismissed candidates were among 14 potential contenders turned down by ISIE last month for not obtaining enough endorsements to challenge Saied.
Saied, the election frontrunner, was democratically elected in 2019 but orchestrated a sweeping power grab in 2021 and has since ruled by decree.
His only challengers are former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui and businessman Ayachi Zammel.
The hopefuls whose candidacies were rejected are Imed Daimi, an adviser to former president Moncef Marzouki, former minister Mondher Zenaidi and opposition party leader Abdellatif Mekki.
Experts have said they had a chance to win against Saied.
Zenaidi’s campaign staff said Monday they would again appeal the ISIE’s decision with the administrative court.
In a Facebook post, they said the ISIE “showed that it is no longer independent”.
Experts have also said the two approved candidates could still face legal challenges while in contention for the top post.
On Monday, Zammel was arrested on charges of forging ballot endorsements and was later placed in police custody for 48 hours, members of his campaign said.
His apprehension came a month after the treasurer of his Azimoun party was arrested on similar charges.
In its statement, the UGTT denounced “the absence of a favourable climate and the essential conditions for democratic, pluralist, transparent and honest elections”.
The UGTT was among four Tunisian organisations to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for their promotion of democracy in the North African country following the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011.
