Tunisia dissolves several parties that received suspicious funding
Judicial authorities dissolve 15 political parties, while 14 others voluntarily dissolve
Tunisian judicial authorities have decided to dissolve 15 political parties, while 14 parties have voluntarily dissolved themselves due to issues related to financial transparency and funding sources. This was confirmed by the Director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Samia Al-Sharafi, during a parliamentary hearing yesterday evening. Many political forces supporting President Kais Saied urged their activation to protect national sovereignty and prevent violations of foreign funds.
According to Al-Sharafi, the authorities have already requested the suspension of activities for 97 parties out of 150 that were notified to clarify their financial situations. She told the official news agency Tunisia Africa News that these parties have not submitted financial reports since 2018, emphasizing that the purpose of this inventory is to ‘protect parties from corrupt and suspicious funds.’
Estimates indicate that there are more than 200 political parties operating in Tunisia, with most of them established after the 2011 revolution that ousted the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
For the same reasons, judicial authorities have suspended the activities out of 272 notified, while decisions have been made to dissolve 69 associations.
Al-Sharafi stated, ‘The increase in foreign funding for associations comes from their proliferation over the past two decades, a result of the absence of a legal provision setting a limit on those external financial flows.’
In 2018, the European Union classified Tunisia as a high-risk country for money laundering and terrorism financing due to deficiencies in its legislation. The EU relied on a report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for this classification. Tunisia later made legal reforms, leading to its removal from the blacklist in 2020 after a review.
The Court of Accounts had revealed irregularities and foreign funding for several parties and violations of the election law related to the financing of electoral campaigns for some parties. In its report published in 2021, the Court of Accounts stated that the volume of foreign funding received by associations, according to available data, amounted to 68 million dinars ($25.15 million) in 2017 and 78 million dinars ($28.85 million) in 2018. However, 566 associations were not informed by the government of receiving foreign funding.
The funding sources of associations raise many questions, with some accusing them of using foreign funding in party electoral campaigns and attracting vulnerable social groups to strengthen their electoral base.
Parties and political forces such as Ennahdha Movement, Heart of Tunisia Party, and the Live Tunisian Association were subject to investigations regarding foreign funding during the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections.
