High profile Tunisian politicians charged with electoral crimes

Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi and former president Moncef Marzouki are among 19 facing charges of illegal campaigning

Several high profile politicians have been accused of committing election fraud. Reuters

A Tunis court announced on Wednesday it was launching prosecutions against 19 people, including parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi and many high profile former ministers and politicians, for alleged crimes related to the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Several former prime ministers — including Youssef Chahed, Elyès Fakhfakh, and Mehdi Jomaa, a former minister of defence, former president Moncef Marzouki, the president of political party Qalb Tounes, and Nabil Kharoui, who ran against President Kais Saied in 2019 — were also among those whom the court said would be charged with “political advertising, illegal advertising via social media, and violation of electoral silence”.

Mr Saied has long called for those listed in a 2019 report from the Court of Auditors into election fraud to be prosecuted. The report details irregularities ranging from nomination fraud to the receipt of foreign funding to illegal advertising on social media.

Mr Saied is also listed in the report, for both nomination fraud and illegal campaign spending, but is not currently facing charges.

Worker's Party Secretary General Hamma Hammami, who is facing charges, called for the president to “lift his immunity and respond to what appeared in the report”, to which the president retorted “the only sum I spent is 50 dinars ($17), in addition to a few coffees”.

If convicted, the accused will face fines, though Mr Saied has pressed for more serious sentences. The accused may also be barred from running in elections or holding public office in the future.

The case highlights the complicated nature of Tunisia's electoral law, which forbids advertising and demands large lists of physical signatures to secure a nomination. Mr Saied has vowed to change the law before new parliamentary elections next December, though he has yet to give any indication of what the new laws will be.

Tunisians protest on the anniversary of the 2011 uprising