Rhino: Agencies – Dozens of prominent law professors and deans of Tunisian law schools warned in a statement on Thursday that the presidential election is at risk of losing its legitimacy and credibility if the Independent High Electoral Commission does not return three candidates to the race in fulfilment of an administrative court decision.
The statement by the country’s elite group of legal experts puts further pressure on the electoral body and reinforces concerns by opposition and rights groups that the body is no longer an impartial arbiter of the 6 October election.
Last week, the Administrative Court, the highest judicial body that adjudicates electoral disputes, ruled that three prominent candidates, Munther Znaidi, Abdellatif Mekki and Emad Daimi, were reinstated into the race after the commission had previously rejected their candidacy on the grounds of lack of popular endorsements.
According to the new constitution and electoral law, candidates must secure recommendations from 10 parliamentarians, 40 local elected officials, or 10,000 voters.
This week, however, the commission refused to implement the judicial decision, defying the administrative court.
It only approved the nomination papers of incumbent president Kais Saeed and two others, Zouhair Meghzawi and Ayachi Zemal.
‘The commission’s decision puts the electoral process at risk as it compromises its credibility, integrity and safety and will inevitably lead to the results of the elections being called into question,’ they added in their statement.
Said, who was democratically elected in 2019, tightened his grip on all powers and began ruling by decree in 2021 in a move the opposition described as a coup.
He said last year that he would not hand over Tunisia to ‘unpatriotic people’.