2024-07-21 08:11:15
The Tunisian Republican Party announced on Thursday the withdrawal of the candidacy of its detained Secretary-General Issam Chebbi for the presidential elections scheduled for next October, after the electoral commission refused to allow him to submit a nomination form submitted by one of his lawyers, and after a negative assessment of the electoral process, and “due to the rotten electoral climate, and in light of the continued restrictions, prosecutions and trials of candidates,” according to the party’s description.
The official spokesman for the Republican Party, Wissam Al-Saghir, said in a press conference at the party’s central headquarters in the capital, Tunis, that “the party decided to withdraw the nomination of its Secretary-General due to the negative electoral climate and the persecutions and restrictions that have affected many candidates.”
Al-Sagheer pointed out that “there is injustice against its Secretary-General, Issam Chebbi, whom the Republican Party initially decided to nominate.”
He added, “The party had confirmed that the nomination of its Secretary-General comes within the framework of the work and discussions of the political and democratic forces regarding the nomination of a joint candidate, and thus this nomination came within a specific political context.”
The party spokesman pointed out that “the climate is rotten and based on restrictions and legal prosecutions. After preventing the head of the Free Constitutional Party from running, and restricting the head of the Work and Achievement Party, Abdel Latif Al-Makki, and arresting the Secretary-General of the Popular Republican Union, Lotfi Al-Mraihi, it is not possible to continue with the elections, and for them to be false witnesses and falsification.”
Al-Sagheer added, “The party will work to impose freedom for political prisoners, and will continue to consult with the rest of the political and human rights parties in order to impose free and transparent pluralistic elections.”
In turn, the member of the defense team of the Secretary-General of the Republican Party, lawyer Youssef Al-Baji, said that he was assigned by Issam Chebbi to submit a request to run in the presidential elections in Tunisia, but when he went to the sub-election commission in the city of Ariana to obtain the endorsement document, and after consultation, the request was rejected on the grounds of the need to present a special power of attorney, while he has a general power of attorney, which is of a higher rank than a special one according to Article 79.
Al-Baji explained in a statement to the “Al-Araby Al-Jadeed” website that “the authority is in the process of conducting prior oversight, that is, since the nominations were submitted, and there has been verbal rejection, that is, no written response to the demands.”
Al-Baji added that the commission “may have misinterpreted the text and made a poor assessment, and should have accepted the candidacy application and then considered whether to accept it or not.”
Last March, the Republican Party decided to participate in the presidential elections and nominate its Secretary-General, who has been imprisoned in the “conspiracy against state security” case since February 2023.
It is noteworthy that Tunisian President Kais Saied had called on citizens on July 2 to hold presidential elections on October 6, after which the Independent High Authority for Elections announced on the 4th of the same month that accepting candidacy for the elections would begin on July 29 and continue until August 6.
Last update: July 18, 2024 – 23:39
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2024-07-21 08:11:15