Tunisia - September 2022

President Kaïs Saïed issued a decree in September introducing a five-year prison sentence and severe fines for spreading “false information” or “rumors” online. The decree provides wide powers to Tunisian authorities that can be arbitrarily used to legitimize invasion of privacy and criminalize dissidents. Tunisia has seen a spike in prosecutions of journalists, including in military courts, since Saïed seized wide-ranging powers last year and several international non-governmental organizations have raised concerns. Reporters Without Borders urged the repeal of the decree, claiming this restricts the work of media, criminalizing practices related to freedom of opinion, expression, and publication.

Sources: EuroMed Monitor, Reuters, Reporters Without Borders, The North Africa Journal

President Kaïs Saïed issued an electoral law on 16 September that weakens the role of political parties ahead of the upcoming 17 December legislative elections. The law significantly reconfigures the electoral system, moving from party-list based proportional representation to single-member districts. Additionally, the law adds new restrictions for candidacy, including disqualifying anyone who has been charged with a crime and requiring the endorsement of 400 citizens in the constituency to register as a candidate. The electoral reforms further include the annulment of clauses on gender parity and youth quota in candidate lists introduced in 2014 to improve representation in the legislature. Taken together, these changes both reduce the power of political parties and reduce the number of people who will have the opportunity to stand as candidates. Tunisia’s main opposition parties announced a boycott in response to the change, rejecting the new electoral law. The unilateral changes to the political system are the latest of President Saïed’s efforts to seize power and remove checks on his actions.

Sources: Al Monitor, Al Jazeera (1), Al Jazeera (2), Republic of Tunisia, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace