As the nation’s October 6 presidential election approaches, large numbers of Tunisians have once again taken to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with President Kais Saied. They contend that Saied has restricted the pool of candidates available to challenge him.
“We came to protest to say that the president of the republic, who won five years of governance, does not want these elections to be fair now that his term has ended,” declared Mustapha Ben Ali, one of the demonstrators.
Many young individuals were present in the gathering; some of them have decided not to cast ballots on Sunday. “No, no, no—I refuse to cast a ballot. In addition to the fact that none of the candidates are someone I can vote for, what transpired throughout the election process, it doesn’t have any guarantees for a transparent and free election,” said Siwar Gmati, aged 27.
Tunisia’s electoral commission, appointed by Saied, has only approved two other people to run against him. Human Rights Watch reported in August that a number of other possible candidates had been disqualified by the government from contesting the election due to charges and incarceration.
Saied has imposed a new constitution and suspended the legislature since taking office in 2019 in an effort to strengthen his own authority.
Attorneys, journalists, and activists have all been arrested as part of his administration’s crackdown on alleged adversaries.
(Africanews)
