Voting was under way in Tunisia on Sunday in an election expected to grant President Kais Saied a second term, as his most prominent detractors – including one of the candidates challenging him – are in prison.
The 66-year-old president faces few obstacles to winning re-election, five years after riding an anti-establishment backlash to a first term, and three after suspending parliament and rewriting the constitution giving the presidency more power.
The North African country’s election is its third since protests led to the 2011 removal of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali — the first autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring uprisings that also overthrew leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
International observers praised the previous two contests as meeting democratic norms. But a raft of arrests and actions taken by a Saied-appointed election authority have raised questions about whether this year’s race is free and fair. And opposition parties have called for a boycott.
Seventeen potential candidates filed paperwork to run, of which Tunisia’s election authority approved three: Mr Saied, Zouhair Maghzaoui and Ayachi Zammel.
Mr Maghzaoui is a veteran politician who has campaigned against Mr Saied’s economic programme and recent political arrests. But he is loathed by opposition parties for backing Mr Saied’s constitution and earlier moves to consolidate power.
Mr Zammel is a businessman supported by politicians not boycotting the race. During the campaign, he has been sentenced to prison time in four voter fraud cases related to signatures his team gathered to qualify for the ballot.
Others had hoped to run but were prevented.
The election authority, known as ISIE, last month dismissed a court ruling ordering it to reinstate three additional challengers.
With many arrested, detained or convicted on charges related to their political activities, Tunisia’s most well-known opposition figures are also not participating.
This includes the 83-year-old leader of Tunisia’s most well organised political party Ennahda, which rose to power after the Arab Spring.
Rached Ghannouchi, the Islamist party’s co-founder and Tunisia’s former house speaker, has been imprisoned since last year after criticising Mr Saied.
The crackdown also includes one of Mr Ghannouchi’s most vocal detractors: Abir Moussi, a right-wing politician known for railing against Islamists and speaking nostalgically about pre-Arab Spring Tunisia. The 49-year-old president of the Free Destourian Party was also imprisoned last year after criticising Mr Saied.
Other less known politicians who announced plans to run have also since been jailed or sentenced on similar charges.
Opposition groups have called to boycott the race.
The National Salvation Front — a coalition of secular and Islamist parties including Ennahda — has denounced the process as a sham and questioned the election’s legitimacy.
Meanwhile, the country’s economy continues to face major challenges.
Despite Mr Saied’s promises to chart a new course for Tunisia, unemployment has steadily increased to one of the region’s highest at 16%, with young Tunisians hit particularly hard.
Growth has been slow since the Covid-19 pandemic and Tunisia has remained reliant on multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and the European Union.
Economic analysts say that foreign and local investors are reluctant to invest in Tunisia due to continued political risks and an absence of reassurances.
Elsewhere, Tunisia has maintained ties with its traditional western allies but also forged new partnerships under Mr Saied.
Like many populist leaders who have taken power worldwide, Mr Saied emphasises sovereignty and freeing Tunisia from what he calls “foreign diktats”.
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