By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Hundreds of protesters on Sunday converged in the Tunisian capital calling for a date to be fixed to hold the country’s presidential election that will end the tenure of Kais Saied that has been on power since 2019.
The protesters are also calling for the immediate release of detained journalists, activists and opposition figures.
Saied took over power after a peaceful poll but two years later, he extended his executive power by dissolving elected parliament and sought to instead rule by decree.
He also assumed authority over the judiciary, a step that the opposition has described as a coup.
With his five-year tenure coming to a close, there is nothing on ground to indicate that presidential polls would take place.
Despite assurance earlier that elections would hold, the Electoral Commission has not fixed a date.
The protest came amidst economic and political crisis and a wave of arrests targeting journalists, lawyers, activists and opponents.
The police had stormed the building of Secretariat of Lawyers on Saturday and arrested Sonia Dahmani, a lawyer known for her fierce criticism of President Saied. Two journalists were also arrested same day.
Saied has repeatedly criticized what he described as the opposition’s scramble for the presidency, saying they had boycotted the last round of parliamentary elections while focusing on the presidential vote.
The opposition says that the political climate is not currently suitable for holding elections amid restrictions on the press and the imprisonment of prominent opponents and activists.
They called on Sunday for a clean political climate for a vote that includes an end to restrictions on press and political freedoms.
“Today there is no climate for fair elections and there is no date… the authorities are repressing politicians, lawyers and journalists,” said Imed Khemiri, a senior official in the Ennahda party, a member of the Salvation Front, which is organizing the protest.
“The storming of the lawyers’ headquarters yesterday is a dangerous precedent that perpetuates the authoritarian regime,” he added.
Abir Moussa, one of the most prominent candidates, has been in prison for months, while Mondher Zanaidi announced his candidacy for a possible election from France, over fear that he would be arrested if he returned to Tunisia.
Saied, without specifying to whom he was referring, accused potential candidates of being traitors and seeking protection abroad.
Heritage Times (HT) reports that Saied had last year held a parliamentary election after dissolving the people’s parliament, a poll in which 11.3 per cent of registered voters participated.
About 887,000 voters cast ballots from a total of 7.8 million registered voters, the electoral commission said.
The parliament made up of Saied’s loyalists has had its role shrunk as part of a political system put in place by the President to give himself nearly absolute power.
Opposition accused Saied of a coup for shutting down the previous parliament in 2021, alleging that he has trashed the democracy built after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution – which triggered the “Arab Spring”.
Saied insists his actions were both legal and necessary to save Tunisia from years of corruption and economic decline at the hands of a self-interested political elite.
