The Tunisian presidential election, held on 6 October 2024, failed to meet international standards on fairness and transparency, and to ensure Tunisians’ human right to take part in the conduct of public affairs and to be elected to public office, the International Commission of Jurists said today. On 7 October, the Electoral Commission (ISIE) announced that President Kaïs Saïed had been re-elected by 90.69% of the electorate on a turnout of 28%.
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“The Tunisian authorities have used every trick in the book to impede a fair and competitive presidential election,” said Saïd Benarbia, Director of the ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme. “In so doing, they have brought the country back to its recent past of purported presidential landslides, where dissenting views are silenced and opposition figures unjustly jailed.”
On 10 August 2024, Tunisia’s Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), whose members are appointed by the President, disbarred all but two Presidential candidates from running against incumbent Kaïs Saïed. On 30 September, the Tunis 2 Court of First Instance convicted one of the two, Ayachi Zammel, of alleged electoral offences and sentenced him to 12 years’ imprisonment. Previously, on 18 September, the Jendouba Court of First Instance had sentenced Zammel to 20 months’ imprisonment, and on 25 September to an additional six months on the same alleged electoral offences. Since the beginning of the electoral period on 19 July 2024, the Tunisian authorities have convicted and sentenced at least eight other prospective presidential candidates for purported electoral offences, thus disqualifying them from the electoral process.
During the electoral period, ISIE also hindered dozens of candidates from registering their candidacy by introducing new eligibility criteria and by refusing to issue the required sponsorship forms to presidential hopefuls.
Between 27 and 30 August 2024, Tunisia’s Administrative Court upheld appeals by disqualified candidates Imed Daimi, Mondher Znaidi and Abdellatif Al Mekki against ISIE’s disbarment decisions. However, ISIE refused to implement the Administrative Court’s binding decisions and confirmed that only three candidates would be permitted to run.
On 27 September 2024, just nine days before the presidential election, and ostensibly in response to the Administrative Court’s judgments, the Tunisian Parliament abruptly ended its recess to remove the Administrative Court’s jurisdiction over the electoral process by amending the electoral law and by transferring it to the Tunis Court of Appeal. Since 2021, President Saïed and the Ministry of Justice have fundamentally eroded the independence of the judiciary, including the Tunis Court of Appeal’s, by arrogating to themselves exorbitant powers to arbitrarily appoint, dismiss and transfer judges and prosecutors.
Throughout the electoral period the Tunisian authorities compounded their obstruction of presidential candidates through mass arrests and detentions of members of the opposition party Ennahda, by harassing journalists for their work reporting on the election, and by refusing to allow civil society organizations (CSOs) to monitor the election. Moreover, the authorities referred two election-monitoring CSOs, Mourakiboun and iWatch, to the Public Prosecution on the basis of purported financial offences.
The Tunisian authorities’ obstruction of the 2024 presidential election is the latest in President Kaïs Saïed’s systematic efforts to dismantle the rule of law and democracy in Tunisia.
The ICJ calls on the Tunisian authorities to ensure Tunisians’ right to take part in the conduct of public affairs consistent with international human rights law and standards, including by ceasing the politicized prosecution of political opponents, reestablishing an independent electoral commission, reinstating the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court over election processes, and allowing journalists and CSOs to carry out their legitimate work unimpeded.
Contact
Said Benarbia, Director, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Program; t: +41 22 979 3817, e: said.benarbia(a)icj.org
Nour Al Hajj, Communications & Advocacy Officer, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Program; e: nour.alhajj(a)icj.org