In Tunisia, only three candidates, including the outgoing president Kaïs Saïed, have been selected to run in the presidential election.

Apart from Kais Saied, the Tunisian electoral authority accepted the applications of Zouhair Maghzaoui, 59, a former MP and defender of pan-Arabism, and Ayachi Zammel, also a former MP and leader of a small, little-known party.

Three candidates, including the outgoing president Kaïs Saïed, were selected on Saturday August 10 to run in the presidential election in Tunisia on October 6, a vote which appears “a foregone conclusion”according to experts and contenders who have given up in front of the “obstacles”. Aside from Kaïs Saïed, 66, who is seeking a second term, the electoral authority Isie announced that it had accepted the files of two other candidates: Zouhair Maghzaoui, 59, a former MP who defends pan-Arabism, and Ayachi Zammel, also a former MP, head of a small, little-known party. As for the 14 other eliminated candidates, who can still file appeals, the president of Isie, Farouk Bouasker, assured that they had not “not collected enough sponsorships”.

The path to the presidential election was strewn with pitfalls for Kaïs Saïed’s rivals, according to experts. The latter, democratically elected in 2019, granted himself full powers in a coup on July 25, 2021, and has since been accused of authoritarianism by the opposition and its detractors. Candidates had to collect the sponsorship of ten parliamentarians, 40 local elected officials or 10,000 voters at a rate of at least 500 per constituency, an enormous figure according to several experts. The Isie also required a criminal record extract (B3), proving the absence of convictions. Several candidates complained of having been administratively hindered in obtaining sponsorship forms, as well as the B3. Farouk Bouasker assured that:“No application was rejected because of the B3”.

In addition, a number of potential candidates, including party leaders Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi, are imprisoned on charges of plotting against the state. They are part of a group of about 20 opponents, businessmen and former ministers arrested in February 2023 for plotting against state security, an investigation denounced as “a witch hunt” by Amnesty International. The candidacy of opposition figure Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Destourian Party, which claims to be descended from autocrats Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was also rejected. She has been in detention since October, including on charges of plotting against the state.

Retired Admiral and former National Security Advisor Kamel Akrout, who withdrew his candidacy at the last minute, denounced a “lack of equal opportunities and obstacles aimed at excluding candidates in favor of one”. The vote of October 6 “will be a mere formality that will serve no purpose other than to lend imaginary legitimacy to political failure, unprecedented economic collapse, extreme poverty and diplomatic isolation.”he lashed out. On Friday, political activist and writer Safi Said, also considered a serious competitor to the outgoing president, threw in the towel, having failed to collect enough signatures. He denounced “a lack of clarity in the rules of the game”considering having “almost participated in a ‘One Man Show’” by Kaïs Saïed.