Tunisian authorities have detained three campaign staff members accused of forging signatures for candidates in the forthcoming presidential elections, according to local media reports on Wednesday.
The campaign staff members are accused of falsifying endorsement signatures after illegally obtaining a database containing details of nearly 20,000 people, which they used to endorse candidates, a court spokesperson in Tunis told the radio station Mosaique FM.
To be included on the ballot, presidential candidates must present a list of signatures from 10,000 registered voters, with at least 500 voter signatures per constituency.
The court spokesperson revealed that a journalist and a retired army officer were among the three men arrested but did not disclose their names or the candidates they were supporting.
On Tuesday, potential candidate Nizar Chaari announced in a video on Facebook that a member of his campaign team, along with its director, retired army officer Lotfi Saidi, had been arrested. Chaari asserted that his team had collected over 10,000 signatures lawfully.
Tunisia commenced candidacy submissions for its presidential election on October 6, amidst what experts describe as substantial challenges for those hoping to unseat the incumbent President Kais Saied.
Saied, democratically elected in 2019, seized extensive powers in 2021 and has declared his intention to seek a second term.
Notable candidates so far include Kamel Akrout, a retired military admiral, and Mondher Zenaidi, 74, a former minister who touts his experience as beneficial for Tunisia, which is struggling with debt.
However, several potential candidates remain imprisoned and thus unable to file their candidacy. Among them are Issam Chebbi, leader of the centrist party Al Joumhouri, and Ghazi Chaouchi, head of the social-democratic Democratic Current party. Both are detained on charges of “plotting against the state” and are among over 20 opponents of Saied arrested since a crackdown began in February 2023.
Abir Moussi, a prominent critic of Saied and leader of the Free Destourian Party, has also been detained on similar charges since October last year.
Last week, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard commented on the situation, stating that since Saied’s power consolidation, “violations that we thought were part of Tunisia’s past are becoming more and more discernible and systematic.”