Tunisia: Union rejects withdrawal of accreditation for journalist covering election

The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) yesterday rejected the Independent High Authority for Elections’ (ISIE) decision to withdraw the accreditation of journalist Khawla Boukrim, who has been covering the presidential elections, Anadolu reported.

The union threatened to escalate protests in response to the authority’s decision against Boukrim.

The SNJT’s statement followed the ISIE’s decision on Tuesday to withdraw the accreditation of Boukrim, who serves as the editor-in-chief of the local news website Tomedia. The ISIE justified its decision, citing what it described as a failure to ensure objective, balanced and impartial media coverage of the electoral process, as well as non-compliance with the electoral law and the code of conduct, and a breach of professional ethics.

The journalists’ union condemned and firmly rejected the decision, calling it “arbitrary” and claiming that it was an attempt to silence critical coverage of the ISIE and the electoral process. The union further criticised the ISIE, accusing it of making a series of grave errors since the start of the electoral process, and argued that the authority lacks the expertise to assess media coverage based on professional ethics, rendering its decisions illegitimate.

The SNJT has called on the ISIE to reverse what it described as an “illegal and incomprehensible” decision against Boukrim. It also urged all journalists and media outlets to join a protest in front of the ISIE’s headquarters next week and to prepare for further escalatory steps.

Tunisia: The elections ended before they even began

Tunisia’s presidential election is scheduled to take place on 6 October, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) urging the government to stop what it considered “political interference”.

Of the 17 candidates who submitted their interest to run in the ballot, the electoral commission has accepted only three: the current President Kais Saied, the Secretary-General of the People’s Movement, Zouhair Maghzaoui, and the head of the Azimoun Movement, Ayachi Zammel.

Last April, the National Salvation Front, the largest opposition coalition, announced that it would not participate in the elections, claiming that the conditions for competition were not present.

Meanwhile, the authorities say that the election meets the conditions of integrity, transparency and fair competition.

Saied has held nearly total power since 25 July 2021 when he sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority citing a national emergency.

He appointed a prime minister on 29 September of the same year and a government was later formed. In December 2021, Saied announced that a referendum will be held on 25 July to consider ‘constitutional reforms’ and elections would follow in December 2022.

The majority of the country’s political parties slammed the move as a “coup against the constitution” and the achievements of the 2011 revolution. Critics say Saied’s decisions have strengthened the powers of the presidency at the expense of parliament and the government, and that he aims to transform the country’s government into a presidential system.

On more than one occasion, Saied, who began a five-year presidential term in 2019, said that his exceptional decisions are not a coup, but rather measures within the framework of the constitution to protect the state from “imminent danger”.