Presidential Election, 6 October 2024

Tunisia’s president is elected through a two-round majority vote. Constitutional changes took place in 2022, giving more power to the president and less to political parties. The 6 October 2024 election was the first presidential election since the new constitution, with three candidates running. The election management body in Tunisia is the High Independent Authority for Elections (ISIE) (IFES n.d.). 

President Kais Saied rewrote the constitution in 2022, making it harder for individuals to run for office by imposing unreasonable requirements and removing public financing of campaigns. The new constitution forbids anyone who has been charged with a legal violation from running for office. Saied further accused many of his political opponents of electoral crimes. Anyone in office who is found guilty of receiving illegal donations is barred from ever running again. Saied accused several opponents of receiving illicit donations. Of 17 candidatures registered by the ISIE in 2024, only three candidates were cleared  to run (Al Mailam and Yerkas 2022; Al Jazeera 2022; AU 2024). 

One of the three, Ayachi Zammel, was arrested, released, and re-arrested about a month before election day. Zammel has since been sentenced to several prison terms. On 30 September 2024, he was sentenced to 12 years and a ban on voting, charged with falsifying endorsements’ signatures (Human Rights Watch 2024). As of October, he was facing 37 cases and a total of 30 years’ imprisonment (New Arab 2024). Also Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Destourian Party and the race’s only female candidate, was sentenced to two years in prison in October, just days after announcing her candidacy for the presidential elections (El Atti 2024). Since Saied took power in 2021, women's rights have come under increasing attack both online and offline. Gendered disinformation and harassment against feminist activists, opponents, and legal professionals have surged, particularly during elections, and several women in political roles have been arrested (Ben Said 2023).

Two of Tunisia’s election observation groups were denied accreditation by the ISIE – appointments to which have been under the president’s control since 2022. The ISIE claimed its refusal to give accreditation was due to “suspicious foreign funding from countries with which Tunisia does not have diplomatic relations”; both observation groups filed complaints to the Administrative Court (Human Rights Watch 2024). The Organic Law on elections and referendums was amended less than two weeks before election day, leading to disagreements between the ISIE and the Administrative Court (AU 2024). The amendment weakened the Administrative Court’s jurisdiction to prevent it from working as a check on electoral violations, handing this to the Appeals Court – which is seen as compliant to Saied. In total, more than 170 people are detained for exercising their rights, 110 of whom are linked to the opposition party. At least nine prospective or actual presidential candidates were prosecuted or jailed within the electoral period (Human Rights Watch 2024; Africa Center for Strategic Studies 2024).

Some international election observation missions (EOMs) were deployed alongside the African Union’s: those of the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) and L’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. The AU’s EOM met with the latter two (AU 2024). 

The observation groups observed election day as mostly peaceful, with polling stations operating effectively and on time. Jeunesse Sans Frontières (Youths Without Borders) reported 100 electoral offences near polling stations, and one instance of attempted vote-buying (Dejoui 2024; AU 2024). The AU noted the absence of female candidates and low representation among security personnel, although women did make up 44 per cent of candidate representatives and were active in managing polling stations (AU 2024).

Saied won the election with over 90 per cent of the vote. Voter turnout was only 28.8 per cent, a large decline on the 2019 presidential election which had a 55.02 per cent turnout. The low turnout is an indicator of many choosing to boycott the election, as they did not feel it was a fair contest (Speakman Cordall 2024). Five political parties had encouraged boycotts, assessing that the electoral process would not be free and fair (International IDEA n.d.; Muia 2024).