Is Tunisia on track for a one-man presidential election?

Tunisia, once the bedrock of democracy in the West Asian and North African region, is set to hold a one-man presidential race as most potential candidates are in jail, awaiting prosecution, or disqualified under new candidacy rules.

After months of suspense, President Kais Saied has finally set the date for the presidential race on 6 October.

Announcing the date in an official decree on 1 July, Saied did not confirm whether he would seek re-election but is widely expected to stand for another five-year term.

A week later, the Electoral Commission confirmed new rules and conditions for presidential candidacy, as stipulated in the 2022 Constitution drafted by President Saied himself.

The new conditions include raising the age requirement from 35 to 40 years, prohibiting dual citizenship holders from running, and requiring candidates to "enjoy civil and political rights" to ensure their eligibility, including checking their criminal records.

Raising the age has already eliminated one of the few potential candidates who were set to enter the race with 'a clean criminal record': Olfa Hamdi, head of the Third Republic Party.

"Last Friday, and less than 90 days before the election date, Saied forced the electoral committee to change the age limit for presidential candidates, leading to my removal from the ballot," said Olfa Hamdi, former CEO of Tunisair.

The Electoral Commission also requires presidential candidates to present "card number 3," a criminal record certificate, to verify that the candidate's record is free from any disqualifying convictions or imprisonment sentences that would bar them from candidacy.

These disqualifying conditions include final judgments against any person convicted of receiving foreign funding for their previous election campaign, bribing voters for endorsements, and other electoral crimes, or those sentenced to additional penalties by a final judicial ruling.

So far, potential candidates include Essam Chebbi, Secretary-General of the Republican Party (imprisoned on charges of conspiracy against state security), Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party (jailed for attempting to overthrow the regime), journalist Safi Said, and former minister Moncef Zanadi (currently in France). Also among the candidates is Lotfi Mraihi, Secretary-General of the Popular Union Party (arrested on suspicion of money laundering).

"There is no competitive environment and no indications of free elections; instead, power is in the hands of one person. True, there is an announcement of an election day, but it is meaningless," Wissam Saghir, spokesperson of the Republican Party, told The New Arab.

The opposition also perceives the criminal record requirement as another attempt from the Electoral Commission and President Saied to sabotage his opponents.

This is not the first time the "card number 3" has put the country in a legal dilemma.

In 2014, the Administrative Court dropped this requirement in the presidential elections after a heated debate about its legality.

In addition, obtaining this document can take a month or more. According to opposition figures who spoke to TNA, some presidential candidates, who are either imprisoned or legally pursued, have applied for this document since June 1 but have yet to receive it.

In April, the National Salvation Front, the major opposition coalition in Tunisia, said it would not participate in the presidential elections, citing the absence of competitive conditions and the imprisonment of political opponents.

The opposition boycotted the December 2022 parliamentary elections and the local municipal elections last December and early this year.

However, the National Salvation Front, a coalition of the main opposition parties, including the once-powerful Islamist movement Ennahda, might reconsider its boycott position regarding the presidential race.

"Ennahda and the National Salvation Front have yet to formulate a final position," Blekassem Hassan, a member of the Ennahda party, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the Arabic-language sister publication to TNA. 

"Ensuring democratic elections means running; otherwise, it means not running," he added.