Rhino: Agencies – Tunisia’s administrative court on Tuesday accepted an appeal by prominent candidate Abdellatif Mekki, returning him to the race for the October 6 presidential election, a judicial and party source told Reuters.
The election commission had disqualified Mekki from the race due to what it said was a lack of the required popular endorsements.
The judicial official told Reuters that the court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.
The Administrative Court is expected to issue other decisions in the coming days regarding other prominent politicians who have filed appeals, including Munther Znaidi, Emad Daimi and Abeer Moussa.
With the court’s decision, Abdellatif Mekki, head of the Labor and Achievement Party, joins the accepted candidates, outgoing president Kais Saeed and politicians Ayachi Zemal and Zuhair Meghzawi.
Mekki was a prominent leader in the Islamist Ennahda party but left the party and founded another party, yet he is still widely supported by supporters of Ennahda, one of the country’s largest political parties.
“The decision is just and shows the image of the administrative court, which is known for its integrity even in the darkest periods of Tunisia’s history,” Dr. Ahmed Nafati, head of Mekki’s campaign, told Reuters.
A Tunisian court ruled last month that Mekki was banned for life from running in the elections, but his campaign manager said the decision is not final and does not change anything and will not prevent him from competing in the October elections.