Report says Tunisian police has arrested Presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel today Monday, September 2, 2024, 2024 at his home.
According to a member of his campaign Mahdi Abdel Jawad, his arrest was made amid growing fears among rights groups and the opposition that prominent rivals to President Kais Saied will be excluded from the race.
He said that police had arrested Zammel at about 3:00 a.m. on suspicion of falsifying popular endorsements, adding that "the matter has become absurd and aims to exclude him from the election".
The electoral commission is preparing to announce the final list of accepted candidates for the presidential elections scheduled for October 6, election today.
Meanwhile, the electoral commission and the interior ministry did not immediately comment.
Last week, the Administrative Court, the highest judicial body that adjudicates electoral disputes, reinstated three prominent candidates, Mondher Znaidi, AbdelLatif Mekki and Imed Daimi, to the election race after the electoral commission had rejected their candidacy filing.
They joined accepted candidates Ayachi Zammel, Zouhair Maghzaoui and Saied, the current president.
However, the electoral commission head Farouk Bouasker said the commission would study the Administrative Court’s decision and other judicial decisions against the candidates before issuing the final list.
Bouasker's position sparked widespread anger among rights groups and politicians, who expressed their fear that the statement was a clear signal pointing to the exclusion of the three candidates from the race.
They said that the commission was no longer independent and its sole goal had become to ensure an easy victory for Saied, although the commission denies these accusations, saying it is neutral.
Tunisian constitutional law professors said the election commission must implement the administrative court’s decision as is, or the elections will completely lose credibility.
Political parties and human rights groups in a joint statement called for a protest today near the election headquarters to demand implementation of the court’s decision to reinstate the candidates and stop "arbitrary restrictions" and intimidation.
President Saied, who dissolved parliament and seized control of all powers in 2021 in a move described by the opposition as a coup, said last year "he would not hand over the country to non-patriots".
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