Tunisia’s President Kais Saied said Friday he will stand for re-election in an October vote. The announcement comes after Amnesty International said earlier this week that Tunisian authorities had intensified a “crackdown” on the political opposition.
President Kais Saied of Tunisia, who seized extensive powers two years after winning office in 2019, declared on Friday that he would run for reelection in October for a further five years.
The video posted by Saied’s office stated, “I officially announce my candidature for the October 6 presidential election in order to keep up the battle in the battle for national liberation.” Saied has ruled by decree since suspending parliament in July 2021.
66-year-old said he was responding to the “country’s sacred call” and that he had no choice but to run for a second term while speaking in the southern part of Tatouine.
A number of presidential contenders who declared their intention to run are either incarcerated or facing legal action.
Saied urged “everyone preparing to sponsor (candidates) to steer off any corruption” in his announcement on Friday.
The leader of the left-wing opposition party Republican People’s Union, Lotfi Mraihi, was sentenced to eight months in prison earlier on Friday and was banned from holding public office for life, according to Tunisian media.
On July 3, he was taken into custody on charges of corruption.
Since October of last year, Abir Moussi, the leader of the Free Destourian Party and a vociferous opponent of Saied, has been incarcerated.
The dictatorial era of independence hero Habib Bourguiba and his successor Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is frequently characterised as the party’s fondness.
Issam Chebbi, the head of the main opposition National Salvation Front, withdrew from the race on Thursday, according to his party. He was imprisoned in February 2023 for allegedly “plotting against the state.”
Last month, Abdellatif Mekki, the head of the Amal w Injaz party and a former health minister and leader of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha movement, announced his withdrawal from the race.
A judge barred Mekki from departing the nation and from making any public statements during a hearing over the 2014 murder of a political official.
According to Amnesty International, the authorities in Tunisia have “stepped up their crackdown on the political opposition” as of late.
Its declaration followed the arrest of Ajmi Ouirimi, the leader of Ennahdha, the largest party in parliament prior to Saied dissolving the house in July 2021.
“These arrests are particularly concerning ahead of the upcoming presidential election,” Amnesty International warned, urging a halt to “authorities’ disrespect for human rights and their crackdown against opponents” .
I Watch, a watchdog organisation in Tunisia, criticised “complicated procedures” and “a methodical absence of transparency” for the country’s upcoming elections on Sunday.
About The Author
Related posts:
Mugihugu cya Kenya Umupolisi yarasiwe murukiko!
ESTONIA: Minisitiri w’Intebe yeguye
ZIMBABWE :perezida Mnangagwa yiyemeje gutanga ubutabera kubarakotse ubwicanyi bwa Gukurahundi mu myaka y’ 1980
Ishimwe rya P. Kagame ku bihugu 29 byamwoherereje ubutumwa bumushimira
Abadipolomate baravugwaho gukina urusimbi muri ambasade ya Dubai i Kampala
Kenya: Hashobora kuvuka ukutumvikana muri Guverinoma iyobowe na Ruto
#Kurahira2024: Abanyarwanda baturutse hirya no hino mu Gihugu bamaze kugera muri Stade Amahoro
Hasohowe Raporo ishinja Perezida Ndayishimiye kubuza amahwemo abantu no kubafungira ubusa