Summary:

On 27 September 2024, the Tunisian Parliament approved an amendment of the 2014 electoral law that transfers legal authority over elections from the Administrative Court to the Judicial Court with 116 votes in favor, eight abstentions, and twelve rejections. 

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The amendment was proposed by 34 MPs on 20 September following tensions between the Higher Authority for Elections (ISIE) and the Administrative Court after the former overruled the Court’s decision to approve three additional candidates to the election. 

The Administrative Court noted that ISIE is obliged to follow its rulings, otherwise candidates have the right to appeal the election results. MPs set out to exclude the Administrative Court from the election process based on their perception that the court was taking the side of various candidates and countering the ISIE.  

On 28 September, President Kais Saied received the Head of Parliament, Ibrahim Bouderbala, and congratulated him for approving the amendment stating that the MPs took a patriotic position by passing the law.  

Meanwhile, Tunisian courts added six additional months of prison sentence to the 20 months already accumulated by presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel. Additionally, the courts opened an investigation on Mondher Zenaidi, whose candidacy was refused by ISIE. The case is based on charges that Zenaidi conspired against the internal and external security of the state. 

Outlook: 

Changing the electoral law just days before the presidential elections has already sparked protests across Tunisia as it is perceived as another measure taken by the current administration to orchestrate a second term for Saied. 

The rapid adoption of the amendment of the electoral law just 10 days after its proposal and during a parliamentary vacation period, highlights the importance to the current administration of protecting election results against any potential appeal to the Administrative Court.  

With the amendment now approved, the Parliament further erodes public confidence in its ability to act as a counterbalance of the executive branch, instead seeming to act at the behest of the executive branch. 

Confidence in government institutions is also waning as the courts are leveraged to exclude candidates from the election and to issue penal sentences in mere days while typical court cases take months or even years to be investigated.  

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