President Kaïs Saïed against the presence of foreign observers in the elections

On 12 May, Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed said he was hostile to the presence of foreign observers at the next polls scheduled in Tunisia, during the swearing-in of new members of the Electoral Authority that he had arrogated to himself. right to appoint. “We are not a State under occupation so that we can be sent observers”, he declared during this ceremony of taking the oath new members of the Independent Higher Authority for Elections (Isie) which took place at the presidential palace.

After months of political deadlock, Kais Saiedelected at the end of 2019, assumed full powers on July 25, 2021 by dismissing the Prime Minister and suspending the Parliament dominated by the Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, his pet peeve, before dissolving it in March 2022.

In a roadmap supposed to get the country out of the political crisis, the Tunisian president has planned a referendum on constitutional amendments on July 25, before legislative elections on December 17. On April 22, he also granted himself the right to appoint three of the seven members of Isie, including the president. The leader of Ennahda has announced that his party will not participate in these elections.

On May 9, the Tunisian president appointed Farouk Bouasker, a former member of Isie, president of this body to replace Nabil Baffoun, a critic of his July coup. The opponents of Kais Saied accuse him of wanting to set up a docile electoral body before the organization of the referendum and the legislative election and of establishing a new autocracy in the country, the only survivor of the Arab Spring of which it was the cradle in 2011. Tunisia has backed down 21 places in the international press freedom index, rising from 73rd to 94th position.

Elections that have taken place in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution that ended the dictatorship have been overseen by local and international NGOs.