Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated on Sunday to denounce efforts in parliament loyal to the president. Qais Saeed To amend the electoral law, with the aim of ending censorship. Administrative Court On the presidential elections scheduled for October 6th.
The demonstrators gathered on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the capital at the invitation of the Tunisian Network for Rights and Freedoms, which includes human rights associations and organizations, and a number of leftist and social parties.
The network said that the demonstration aims to confront the deviations and violations committed by the executive authority, according to the text of the call for the demonstration.
The demonstrators chanted slogans including “Down with the regime” and “Leave”, and carried banners denouncing the efforts to amend the electoral law in order to hold “tailor-made” elections, demanding that President Saied not tamper with the current electoral law.
They also raised slogans calling for the return of democracy, stopping the targeting of politicians, human rights activists and media professionals, stopping the use of the judiciary to target activists, and cancelling some laws that they consider to be anti-freedom, such as “Decree 54“.
Some of the banners included criticism of the parliament – dominated by Saied loyalists – for launching an initiative aimed at amending the electoral law, and accusations of a lack of independence for the electoral commission.
There were 34 deputies in Tunisian Parliament They introduced a bill that aims to strip the administrative court of its authority to adjudicate electoral disputes, just weeks before the presidential election, and the Tunisian opposition considered the bill the latest step to completely discredit the presidential election.
The Administrative Court, which is described as the last independent body in Tunisia, ruled to reinstate 3 presidential candidates after the Election Commission excluded them from the race, but the latter refused to implement the court’s decisions on the grounds that they were issued after the legal deadlines had expired.
The three candidates who were excluded by the electoral commission and whose reinstatement was ruled by the administrative court are the Secretary-General of the Action and Achievement Party and former leader of the Ennahda Movement, Abdel Latif Al-Makki, former Minister Mondher Al-Zanadi, and former MP Imad Al-Daimi.
Critics of the Tunisian president say the move by pro-government lawmakers to amend the electoral law stems from fears that the administrative court will rule the elections illegitimate if disqualified candidates challenge the results.
The opposition accused the president of overthrowing the constitution when he dissolved parliament and the government on July 25, 2021, monopolizing all powers, and establishing a dictatorial regime, while Saied denies this, and says that his measures aim to save the state and rid the country of those he describes as “traitors, mercenaries, and corrupt people.”