Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood Falters… Spreads Rumors to Undermine Electoral Process
The Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood group is attempting to spread new rumors alleging that the government, under the direction of President Kais Saied, is seeking to postpone the elections.
During a protest organized by the Salvation Front earlier this week, the group affirmed its refusal to postpone the elections to next year and demanded the removal of the reformist president Kais Saied and the release of imprisoned organization members, including their leader Rached Ghannouchi, according to the newspaper Makkah.
The Front’s president, Ahmed Najib Chebbi, claimed that the current political climate “does not ensure any democratic conditions for fair elections due to the imprisonment of their leaders.”
Observers of the Tunisian political scene assert that the Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to inflame tensions and spread rumors to sabotage the electoral process.
The spokesperson for the Independent High Authority for Elections, Mohamed Tlili Mansri, stated in a press statement quoted by the official news agency that the optimal date for holding the vote is next October, without exceeding the legal and constitutional deadlines of the 23rd of that month.
He confirmed that if October 23 is considered the voting date, then the call to voters must not exceed July 23 next, and pointed out that in the conditions for candidacy in the presidential election, card number (3) will be added, proving the candidate’s lack of judicial records or prosecutions.
Tunisian political analyst Omar El Yefrani believes that the Muslim Brotherhood, realizing their inability to mobilize the people, has begun to adopt a smear campaign strategy to undermine the electoral schedule, stating that the Muslim Brotherhood failed after being rejected by the people, explaining that the march of the Islamic Salvation Front, prepared and announced two weeks ago, was a failure and attracted only a small number of participants.
He noted that the Muslim Brotherhood were blindsided by this widespread popular rejection, considering that the addition of card number (3) as a condition for candidacy in the elections, proving the absence of judicial records or prosecutions against the candidate, has ended all their hopes of running in this election.
