In Tunisia, opposition leader Abir Moussi, imprisoned since autumn 2023, files her candidacy for the presidential election through her lawyers

A virulent critic of Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, the 49-year-old former MP was arrested on October 3, 2023. She faces serious charges, including “an attack aimed at changing the form of government.”

The path promises to be strewn with pitfalls. The fierce opponent of President Kaïs Saïed in Tunisia, Abir Moussi, imprisoned since the fall of 2023, filed her candidacy for the presidential election of October 6 on Saturday, August 3, through her lawyers, according to local media. Six members of the defense committee of the leader of the Free Destourian Party, which claims the legacy of autocrats Habib Bourguiba and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, submitted her file to the electoral authority Isie, according to Mosaïque FM radio.

Applicants have until Tuesday, August 6, 5 p.m. GMT (7 p.m. Paris time) to apply. The acceptance criteria are draconian: they must be sponsored by 10 parliamentarians or 40 local authority presidents, largely in favor of Kaïs Saïed, or by 10,000 voters with at least 500 signatures per constituency, a number that is difficult to collect, according to experts.

A virulent critic of both the president and the Islamo-conservative opposition party Ennahdha, Abir Moussi, a 49-year-old former MP, was arrested on 3 October 2023 in front of the presidential palace in Carthage, when, according to her party, she had come to file appeals against decrees by Kaïs Saïed. The latter was democratically elected in 2019, but fomented a coup three years ago to run for a second term. Since her arrest, Abir Moussi has been the subject of serious accusations, including: “an attack aimed at changing the form of government.” She is suspected of having wanted to re-establish a regime similar to that of Ben Ali, overthrown in 2011 by the first revolt of the “Arab Spring”.

Other opposition figures in detention, such as Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi, accused of plotting against the state, had announced their intention to run for president, but they threw in the towel, having failed to obtain a special power of attorney to be represented during the procedure. On Wednesday, a dozen serious candidates denounced in a press release restrictions on their freedom to run.

Around thirty NGOs, including the Tunisian League for Human Rights, also criticised the “arbitrary arrests” of candidates, an electoral authority having “lost his independence” And “a monopolization of public space”, with “the use of state resources to favor one candidate to the detriment of others”.