Anger as Tunisia’s elections authority excludes journalists from press briefing

The Independent High Authority for Elections has angered Tunisian journalists after excluding them from a press conference yesterday.

The authority held a press conference in which it announced the final list of candidates for the presidential elections scheduled for 6 October. It named incumbent President Kais Saied, Zouhair Maghzaoui and Ayachi Zammel as the candidates in the upcoming poll.

This angered political activists, after the electoral authority refused to implement the decisions of the administrative court that ruled to reinstate three candidates – Imed Daimi, Mondher Znaidi and Abdellatif Mekki – to the presidential race.

The authority also angered journalists, after it prevented the attendance of private Tunisian media or foreign media offices from covering the conference and limited the participation of journalists from official media outlets, including Tunisie Radio, Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) and Tunisie TV.

The Tunisian Journalists Syndicate issued a statement condemning the Independent High Authority for Elections’ exclusion of all media outlets from covering the press conference and its exploitation of a public facility to serve an “exclusionary agenda.”

“This exclusionary policy adopted by the authority is an attempt to escape media accountability for its decisions and to answer the questions of the public opinion regarding this decision, which contradicts the rulings of the administrative court,” it added.

It pointed out that this step is a continuation of the Independent High Authority for Elections’ approach “attempting to monopolise the organisation of media work, limit its efforts to enlighten public opinion, and restrict voices critical of the electoral process and the authority and the extent of its effectiveness and respect for the law.”

The syndicate considered this an effort to exploit “state television to serve its image,” as well as a means “to direct media coverage and limit the objectivity of the media and its role in enlightening public opinion, and reporting on the recent decision made by the authority.”

It warned that these practices will increase the “deterioration of the electoral scene.”

READ: HRW calls on Tunisia to stop its ‘political interference’ in presidential elections