The vote comes as many of Saied’s political opponents and media critics are in jail or facing prosecution.
Tunisian President Kais Saied has announced presidential elections for October 6th, mulling a possible reelection, with many of his political opponents in jail.
Saied announced the date in an official decree on Monday and did not say whether he would seek re-election, but is widely expected to run for another five-year term.
A former constitutional law professor, he was elected in 2019 as a strong opposition figure promising to root out corruption.
In 2021, the president took full control of the country, dissolved the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree, in a move the opposition denounced as a coup.
He then oversaw the drafting of a new constitution to be approved in a 2022 referendum that would establish a presidential system and weaken parliament.
Economic and political turmoil
The political crisis unleashed by Saied’s seizure of power has put a heavy burden on Tunisia’s economy, with unemployment at 15 percent and around four million of the country’s 12 million people living in poverty.
The crackdown has led to the indictment of more than 60 journalists, lawyers and political opponents, according to Tunisia’s National Union of Journalists.
The opposition argues that fair and credible elections cannot be held unless jailed politicians are released and journalists are allowed to do their jobs free from government pressure.
“Kais Saied intends to gradually criminalise individuals, organisations, parties and journalists in order to maintain the sympathy of his supporters in the run up to the elections,” Romdane Ben Amor of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) told Al Jazeera in May.
“The regime’s machinery works so efficiently that it devours anyone who has a critical perspective on the situation.”
“Strengthening human rights crackdown”
Opposition parties, including the Ennahda and Free Constitutional Party, say Saied is targeting key figures in his own party to avoid potential rivals in the next presidential election.
Abir Moussi, leader of the Liberal Constitution Party and a potential rival to Saied, has been jailed since last year on charges of endangering public security.
Other election candidates, including Safi Saied, Lotfi Marahi, Nizar Shaari and Abd Elatif Mekki, have also been indicted on charges including fraud and money laundering.
Ennahda party leader Rached Ghannouchi is jailed on charges that his party received foreign funding, in a case Amnesty International described as part of “a deeply disturbing trend in the growing crackdown on human rights and opposition parties.”
Meanwhile, Saeed criticised the “power struggle among politicians” and said people who had earlier boycotted parliamentary elections now wanted their posts.
He says he has no intention of handing power over to people he considers unpatriots.
