Tunisian police arrested presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel at his home at about 3:00 a.m. on suspicion of falsifying popular endorsements. The arrest comes amid growing fears among rights groups and the opposition that prominent rivals to President Kais Saied will be excluded from the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for October 6.
The electoral commission is preparing to announce on Monday the final list of accepted candidates for the presidential elections. Mahdi Abdel Jawad said “the matter has become absurd and aims to exclude him from the election”. However, the electoral commission and the interior ministry did not immediately comment on the arrest or Jawad’s allegation.
