Administrative Court rules to reinstate Imed Daimi in Tunisian presidential race | News

The Administrative Court in Tunisia announced today, Friday, the reinstatement of former advisor to President Moncef Marzouki, Imed Daimi, to the presidential race scheduled for October 6, making him the sixth candidate.

Al-Daimi, 54, was excluded in the first stage of the litigation, and then the court accepted his candidacy in the appeal, “in form and substance,” according to what the court indicated in a statement, but this decision awaits confirmation from the electoral commission, which meets next week to determine the final list of candidates.

Since the beginning of the week, this body has already accepted two appeals, one by former minister Mondher Zenaidi and the second by Abdellatif Mekki, a former leader in the Ennahda movement and one of the fiercest opponents of President Kais Saied.

Imed Daimi is the vice president of the Hirak party, led by former President Moncef Marzouki, and is a fierce critic of Saied's policies.

Final List

Thus, the Administrative Court has considered all the appeals submitted, which requires the Election Commission to announce the final list of candidates for the presidential elections.

Commenting on the court’s decisions, the head of the Independent High Authority for Elections, Farouk Bouasker, confirmed in statements to local media that “the Authority’s council will meet to review these rulings, their grounds and justifications, and we will make a decision on the final list, taking into account the criminal rulings issued regarding fraudulent endorsements.”

On August 10, the electoral body announced that it had approved the files of only three candidates, including President Saied, who was democratically elected in 2019 before granting himself full powers in the summer of 2021, and has since been accused of dragging the country towards “authoritarian deviation.”

The electoral commission also accepted the file of the head of the “People's Movement Party” (nationalist), Zuhair Al-Maghzawi, who supported Saied's decisions to monopolize power in the summer of 2021.

It also approved the file of businessman and former MP Al-Ayachi Al-Zammal, whose party is being prosecuted on charges of “forging” endorsement signatures.

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