Tunisian presidential candidate arrested ahead of Oct 6 election

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One of only two candidates approved to run against Tunisia’s authoritarian president Kais Saied in next month’s election was arrested on Monday, the same day his name appeared on the list of approved candidates.

Ayachi Zammel was taken into custody in the early hours, shortly before he was named as a candidate for the October 6 vote by the electoral commission.

Mahdi Abdel Jawad, a member of Zammel’s campaign, told Express FM, a Tunisian broadcaster, that the arrest appeared linked to “false” allegations that the campaign had forged endorsements from members of the public to secure Zammel’s candidacy.

“The allegations aim at tarnishing the image of Zammel,” said Abdel Jawad.

Although Zammel made it on to the list, the commission whose members have been handpicked by Saied refused to include three other politicians, seen as potentially strong competitors to the president. This despite recent court rulings reinstating them as presidential candidates.

Saied has conducted repeated crackdowns against his political opponents, as well as journalists and civil society workers, since he staged a power grab in 2021. He has since then proceeded to dismantle Tunisia’s fledgling democratic experiment launched after the country’s 2011 uprising.

Zammel, a businessman and former MP, had maintained a low-profile according to Hamza Meddeb, analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center, but some Saied opponents had begun to see him as someone they could potentially “bet on”.

“He initially supported Saied’s power grab, then started taking a distance from him,” said Meddeb. “Some are saying why not play the Zammel card. At least he is an independent.”

Meddeb said the entry of the three politicians excluded by the electoral commission would have been “a game-changer for the election,” because they could mobilise sections of the public that might otherwise have stayed home.

“It would have ensured competition and that Saied did not win from the first round,” said Meddeb.

The three are Mondher Znaidi, a long serving former minister who appeals to a constituency nostalgic for the stability of the pre-revolution regime; Imed Dleimi, said to have support among younger Tunisians and circles which backed the 2011 uprising; and Abdel Latif Mekki, who appeals to an Islamist constituency.

“Even those tempted to boycott the election could have been mobilised,” said Meddeb. “It is clear Zammel is being harassed to prevent him from conducting a campaign under normal conditions.”

Before Saied concentrated powers in his hands, Tunisia was seen as the only successful transition to democracy to have emerged from the Arab uprisings of 13 years ago.

The other candidate approved to run against Saied is Zouhair Maghzaoui, head of the al-Shaab party which has supported the president’s assault on Tunisia’s democratic institutions.

Ahead of the announcement by the electoral commission of the approved candidates, dozens of civil society organisations, political and public figures condemned what they saw as an intention to ignore the court rulings.

They said in a statement over the weekend that “the non implementation of the decisions of the administrative court . . . has no legal basis . . . and leads to harm in the form of punishable electoral fraud”.