High-profile politicians in Tunisia, including former prime ministers, political party leaders and ex-ministers, who have been accused of “election crimes”, are facing financial penalties and prison sentences.
If convicted, the politicians may also be barred from running in elections or holding public office in the future.
According to critics of President Kais Saied, opening the file of alleged electoral violations could eliminate competitors, who are expected to run against him in the 2024 electoral race, such as former President Moncef Marzouki and ex-PM Youssef Chahed.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the vice president of the Independent High Election Commission (IHEC) said that the Tunisian electoral law calls for financial penalties against candidates who have committed electoral crimes, and prison sentences of up to five years for presidential candidates who received funds from abroad during the election campaign.
He added that the same law imposes a penalty of freezing membership for those who won the elections after receiving foreign funding, in addition to depriving them from running for elections for a period of five years starting from the date of the ruling.
Saied had responded to accusations of receiving foreign funds during his election campaign, by saying that the only amount he paid during the 2019 elections was 50 Tunisian dinars (about $18). He also asserted that he refused to obtain the public funding, which is provided by the state for the presidential candidates.
The Workers’ Party led by Hamma Hammami, who is accused of committing electoral crimes, said he was surprised that the Tunisian president’s name was not included in the list of beneficiaries of political advertising and illegal propaganda, despite the electoral irregularities attributed to his campaign in the report of the Court of Auditors.
According to the report, Saied’s electoral campaign team had committed numerous electoral violations, in addition to creating 30 propaganda websites or accounts in Tunisia and abroad.
