The Tunisian General Labour Union, the largest trade union organisation in Tunisia, announced its “rejection of the decision of the Independent High Authority for Elections to exclude three candidates for the presidential elections despite their confirmation by the administrative court.”
The union said: “The decision of the Election Commission is a dangerous precedent in the law and a consecration of a political decision.”
The electoral commission announced the final list of names of candidates eligible to participate in the presidential elections scheduled for October 6, including current President Kais Saied, who is seeking a second term, Zuhair Maghzaoui, head of the People’s Movement Party, and Ayachi Zemal, head of the Azmoun Movement.
In return, it “insisted on excluding the candidacies of Imad al-Daimi, Munther al-Zanaidi, and Abdel Latif al-Makki, claiming that their files contained violations in popular endorsements, despite the issuance of a ruling by the Administrative Court accepting their appeals and returning them to the presidential race. The three candidates rejected the commission’s decision, in a move that threatens further political tension in the country.”
In a related context, Tunisian President Kais Saied said that the presidential elections are “a purely internal affair in which no foreign party has any involvement.”
Saied added, “Those who receive money and support, as they have always done, from external parties, and falsely and slanderously claim that they are advocates of freedom and democracy, have harbored treason, collaboration, and slander. Their value, in the eyes of those who support them with huge sums of money and by all means, is their value, if they have value, with a single penny returned.”
He stressed that “Tunisians are fully aware of these conditions, and even know the details of the matter, and they have chosen to purify their country and pave a new path in history in which sovereignty belongs to the people alone.”
On the other hand, The lawyer of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zemal said, “The Public Prosecution in Tunisia ordered, on Wednesday, the imprisonment of his client pending trial. The Tunisian police arrested “Zemmal” at dawn on Monday on charges of forging popular endorsements.”
Zamal is considered one of the three accepted candidates in the presidential elections expected next month, along with current President Kais Saied and politician Zouhair Maghzaoui.
Last updated: September 4, 2024 – 14:30
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2024-09-04 16:46:26