The draft amendment to the electoral law presented by a group of deputies, just a few days before the presidential election on October 6, continues to arouse strong criticism within Tunisian civil society, which expressed its disapproval during a protest rally yesterday afternoon, Sunday, September 22, 2024, in downtown Tunis. (Photos Yassine Gaïdi ).
The protest rally, organized at the call of the Tunisian Network for Rights and Freedoms, brought together several thousand citizens of all political persuasions who chanted slogans denouncing what they considered to be an authoritarian drift of the regime put in place by the President of the Republic Kaïs Saïed the day after the proclamation of the state of emergency on July 25, 2021. Some demonstrators even called for the fall of the regime.
The protest lasted for several hours and the city center of Tunis was surrounded by security units, who closed some roads leading to the demonstration site, but there was no real violence, as is often the case on such occasions.
Several political figures were present, but rather discreetly and blending into the crowd. By not waving placards indicating their party affiliation, the demonstrators seem to have wanted to avoid the usual divisions and present themselves as citizens angry at what they consider to be an authoritarian drift and an electoral lockout, which is two weeks before a presidential election in which the outgoing president is himself running. They also shouted slogans against shortages, the high cost of living, and the deterioration of public services.
It must also be said that the electoral campaign if there is an electoral campaign, is taking place in a strange atmosphere: the three candidates in the running are not distinguished by their overflowing activities. And for good reason: the outgoing president is carrying out his presidential activities normally and is not chairing popular meetings; the second candidate, Zouhair Maghzaoui, is getting as excited as he can without really believing it; as for the third candidate, Ayachi Zammel, he is purely and simply in prison before the campaign even begins, prosecuted in a large number of cases brought against him in the last two weeks.
This is a completely unprecedented situation for Tunisians, many of whom do not even know whether they should vote or boycott the elections, as the die seems to have already been cast.
