Tunisia: political opposition gives election ultimatum
Tunisia’s opposition continues to rage against the president’s authoritarian regime as the calendar creeps towards the presidential elections.
Opposition coalition, the Ennahdha party announced on 30th April that it would not participate in the elections unless its terms and conditions were met, reported The Associated Press.
If Tunisia’s current president, Kais Saied does not release his political opponents from prison and restore judicial independence, the Ennahdha party will not participate in the running.
Foreign Policy reported that Saied’s reelection campaign is potentially a “well-choreographed political charade,” as the sentences for those behind bars are repeatedly extended. According to his own constitutional rewrites, he will need an absolute majority to win, but if he does not, a runoff vote will take place.
Saied confirmed that he will run for a second term; it is unclear whether anyone will run against him.
However, an opinion piece published in 2021 by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) claims that Saied gave democracy in Tunisia a second chance.
Since Saied consolidated power in 2021 and dissolved the parliament, over 20 political opponents have been charged or incarcerated, including Ennahdha Party leader, Rached Ghannouchi.
Saied appears to push civil liberation to the bottom of the list as his regime have imprisoned multiple opposition leaders, lawyers, and journalists. In January, the International Federation of Journalists called upon the Tunisian president to stop the prosecution of journalists in Tunisia.
Although Tunisia’s relations with the EU increase – as seen by the continuous funding being poured into Tunisia’s (and allegedly Saied’s) pockets – Tunisia’s relations with Morocco appear to be extremely rocky.
The fallout between Tunis and Rabat stems from the 2022 Tokyo International Conference of African Development, where Tunisia invited a Moroccan separatist leader as a guest. Morocco considered the move a “stab in the back” and pulled their ambassador from Tunisia’s capital.
Recently, tensions have been strained further due to the assembly of the “Maghreb Alliance” – an alliance between Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya, without Morocco or Mauritania. Although Algeria inferred that Morocco was welcome to join, Moroccan media published their view of the situation, suggesting that the alliance was against Morocco.
AP/FP/IFJ
