Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has set the country’s presidential election for October 6, 2024, international media reported.
First elected president in 2019, Saied is expected to run for a second term even though he has not officially announced his candidacy.
In April, the National Salvation Front, the major opposition coalition in Tunisia, said it would not participate in the presidential elections, citing the absence of conditions of competition and the imprisonment of political opponents, according to Anadolu News Agency.
The opposition also said fair and credible elections cannot be held unless imprisoned politicians are released and the media is allowed to do its job without pressure from the government. Those against Saied boycotted the December 2022 parliamentary elections and the local municipal elections last December and early this year.
Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that has aggravated the country’s economic situation since 2021 when Saied ousted the government, dissolved parliament, and began ruling by decree in a move that the opposition described as a coup. Saied said that his steps were legal and necessary to end years of rampant corruption among the political elite.