Why is Tunisia’s administrative court at odds with its electoral tribunal? | Election news

A dispute has arisen between Tunisia’s courts and electoral authorities, a dispute that could determine the country’s future for years to come.

The dispute essentially revolves around the eligibility of three candidates for Tunisia’s October 6 presidential election.

According to analysts, it is above all a sign of the sustainability of the changes introduced during the 2011 revolution.

How many candidates are running in the presidential election?

Three, including President Kais Saied, but it appears uncertain whether any of the candidates will remain in the race.

Of the 17 candidates who registered with the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) in August, only Zouhair Magzhaoui and Ayachi Zammel were allowed to appear on the ballot paper along with Saied.

Magzhaoui, of the left-nationalist People’s Movement, and Zammel, of the liberal Azimoun party, are not expected to win.

Zammel’s campaign is in trouble after police arrested him on Monday for allegedly falsifying sponsorship deals.

Mahdi Abdel Jawad, a member of his team, said he wanted to discourage Zammel from running.

Zammel is still able to run, despite his arrest.

So 14 candidates have been declared ineligible?

Yes.

Three of them – former ministers Imed Daimi and Mondher Znaidi and opposition leader Abdellatif Mekki – won their appeal against the ISIE decision at the administrative court last week.

However, the ISIE rejected the ruling, stating at a press conference accessible only to state media that the court had not communicated its ruling to the ISIE within the legally prescribed 48-hour period.

A court spokesman denied the accusation that same day.

ISIE leader Farouk Bouasker said the list of three candidates was “final” and “not subject to appeal”.

No one made a problem of it?

Civil society organizations, human rights organizations and labor organizations have objected.

On Tuesday, the Tunisian General Workers’ Union, the country’s largest union, called the ruling “illegal.”

On Saturday and Sunday, 26 Tunisian and international NGOs, along with 200 academics and activists, signed a letter welcoming the administrative court’s decision and demanding that pluralism be respected.

“By ignoring the administrative court rulings, the electoral commission is once again tipping the balance in Saied’s favor and making a mockery of this election,” Bassam Khawaja, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera.

Khawaja recently published a report calling for the court ruling to be upheld.

What’s going on between the court and ISIE?

While many were surprised that the administrative judge supported the three rejected candidates, few were shocked that the ISIE opposed them.

After Saied dissolved the government, suspended parliament and seized most powers in 2021, the once-respected ISIE was re-established by decree.

ISIE members can now be appointed or dismissed by Saied.

Speaking to Mosaique FM in 2022, then ISIE president Nabil Bafoun said the body’s authority had collapsed and that under the new system Saied was “the team, the referee and the goalkeeper. … It is the authoritative body of the president par excellence”.

Why is this important?

Tunisia has never established a constitutional court or a supreme court.

Instead, the administrative judge has guided the country through some of the most troubled periods in its recent history.

If a body with ties to Saied rejects his ruling, it undermines the rule of law, makes a mockery of the electoral process and undermines the legitimacy of whoever wins the election, said Hamza Meddeb of the Carnegie Middle East Centre.

“This is an unprecedented situation,” Meddeb told Al Jazeera. “It speaks directly to the constitution and… who determines the right to govern.

“It also shows that despite the repression … under Saied, there are still … people in parts of the judiciary and elsewhere who are not convinced by Saied’s rhetoric,” he said.

Does this mean Saied is afraid he will lose?

Not really.

Despite the declining standard of living, Saied remains relatively popular.

That is partly due to his censorship of a once vibrant media that now – with a few notable exceptions – rarely voices that contradict or challenge the government line.

In 2022, Saied introduced Decree 54, which criminalizes the online dissemination of news deemed false by the court. An unknown number of journalists, commentators and critics have been jailed or prosecuted under this.

Under these threats, self-censorship has become the norm.

Those who do not practice it – such as the magazine Jeune Afrique, which recently published a critical interview with Meddeb – have found their publications banned in Tunisia.

“Saied is weak. His support is much lower than in 2019 (during the previous presidential election),” Meddeb told Al Jazeera.

“There are probably still enough people who believe his conspiracy theories and blame others – … the West, rich people, migrants or even those who believe in climate change – to see him re-elected.

“However, the fact that he is resorting to… letting ISIE fight for him shows that he is concerned.”