The Tunisian president has designated October 6 as the election date

The Tunisian president, Kais Saied, announced on Monday that the presidential election will take place on October 6. It is widely anticipated that he will seek a second term. At least one potential candidate is currently in custody, while others are facing prosecution.

Saied, who was elected president in 2019, has not yet officially declared his candidacy. However, he stated last year that he would not cede power to individuals whom he deemed to be non-patriots.

According to the opposition, the release of imprisoned politicians and the protection of the media from government duress are essential prerequisites for the conduct of fair and credible elections.

The government is attempting to exclude Saied’s primary opponents from the election, according to opposition parties such as the Free Constitutional Party and the Ennahda Islamist party.

Saied expressed his dissatisfaction with the “politicians’ jostling for office” earlier this year, asserting that those who had previously boycotted parliamentary elections now desired his position.

Abir Moussi, the leader of the Free Constitutional Party and a prominent candidate according to opinion surveys, has been incarcerated since last year on charges of endangering public safety.

Moussi’s party claims that she was incarcerated in order to eliminate her from the election contest and prevent the emergence of a highly effective candidate. This assertion is refuted by the authorities.

Several other candidates, including Lotfi Maraihi, Nizar Chaari, Safi Saeed, and Abd Ellatif Mekki, are currently under investigation for alleged offenses such as money laundering and fraud.

Mondher Znaidi, a prominent potential candidate residing in France, is also under investigation for financial malfeasance.

In 2021, Saied dissolved parliament, acquired nearly all of his powers, and commenced governing by decree, a maneuver that the opposition characterized as a coup. Saied maintained that his actions were both lawful and essential in order to eradicate the political elite’s decades-long corruption.

In a crackdown that has encompassed industrialists, media figures, and politicians, prominent opponents of the president have been detained on charges of conspiring against state security since last year.