Tunisia police arrest presidential candidate as pre-election tension rises

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian police arrested presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel on Monday, a member of his campaign told Reuters, amid growing fears among rights groups and the opposition that prominent rivals to President Kais Saied will be excluded‮ ‬from the race.

The electoral commission is preparing to announce on Monday the final list of accepted candidates for the presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 6.

Mahdi Abdel Jawad said police had arrested Zammel at his home at about 3:00 a.m. on suspicion of falsifying‮ ‬popular endorsements and added that "the matter has become absurd and aims to exclude him from the election".

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, electoral commission head Farouk Bouasker said the commission would study the Administrative Court’s decision and other judicial decisions against 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. The commission denies these accusations and says 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 called in a join statement for a protest on Monday near the election headquarters to demand implementation of the court’s decision to reinstate the candidates and stop "arbitrary restrictions" and intimidation.

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".

(Reporting by Tarek Amara, Editing by Timothy Heritage)