Tunisia recently witnessed one of its largest protests in years, as thousands of young people took to the streets of the capital, demanding an election similar to the one in 2019. This refers to the protests that called for change after nine successive governments failed to address the country’s economic issues, unemployment, and corruption. In the 2019 elections, former law professor and independent candidate Kais Saied won with a majority of 72% of the vote. After his victory, Saied promised to tackle corruption, reform the country, and provide a better future for the youth. However, five years into his presidency, anger among Tunisian youth seems to have grown.
Two years after his election, Saied began to tighten his grip on power, starting in 2021 by dismantling most of the country’s democratic institutions, imprisoning journalists, lawyers, and political opponents. Human rights organizations condemned the crackdown, viewing it as a means for Saied to secure a second term in the upcoming elections. For example, 14 out of 17 candidates who wished to run were disqualified. In the end, the electoral commission only accepted two candidates to compete against Saied. However, one of the two candidates, Al-Ayachi Al-Zamal, was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for “forging documents and falsifying public endorsements” just three weeks before the elections. This coincided with a statement from the Ennahda Party, the largest opposition party, which mentioned that over 90 of its members had been arrested. They described the wave of arrests as “unprecedented” and an “outright violation of basic legal rights.”
Pro-Saied social media pages published an electoral statement signed by him and stamped by the Independent High Authority for Elections. Tunisia’s state news agency published excerpts from Saied’s statement, and Tunisian television aired a report discussing it. The statement sparked widespread controversy on social media due to its form and content. Saied’s statement was 34 lines long, written in a font so small that it was difficult to read, and contained errors, including the date of the Tunisian revolution. The statement initially claimed that the revolution began on December 17, 2017, when it actually began in 2010.
Many activists commented on the statement, saying it was “written so no one would read it,” while others pointed to the error regarding the revolution’s date as evidence that those who drafted the statement had no connection to the revolution. What caused the most outrage among activists on various platforms was the warlike and divisive language used in the statement. It contained frequent references to “blood, darkness, enemies, terrorism, assassinations, division, explosions, betrayal, cleansing, rabid, hired, disappearance, evaporation, and extinction.”
Activists on social media also discussed the electoral law and its provisions that criminalize the type of “hate speech and violence” found in the president’s statement. Article 52 of the law stipulates that election campaigns must adhere to basic principles, including “not inciting hatred, violence, intolerance, or discrimination.” Article 56 states that “any election or referendum propaganda that incites hatred, violence, intolerance, or discrimination is prohibited.” Furthermore, the Independent High Authority for Elections is required to intervene in case of violations, as Article 71 states that “the authority shall monitor the adherence of candidates, lists, or parties to the principles, rules, and procedures of the campaign, and take measures to immediately stop violations, including the confiscation of electoral advertisements.” Many on social media argued that the authority should have prevented the publication of Saied’s statement due to its violations, but its failure to do so raised doubts about its neutrality and independence, according to them.
