Tunisia’s parliament has endorsed a law stripping the Administrative Court of its authority to adjudicate electoral disputes on Friday – a development that is coming nine days before the presidential election and has served to fuel the opposition’s fears of a rigged result with the aim to keep President Kais Saied in power.
The Administrative Court is majorly viewed as the North African country’s last independent judicial body, after Saied scrapped the Supreme Judicial Council and laid off dozens of judges in 2022.
Out of the total 161 lawmakers, 116 had voted for major amendment to the electoral law.
The current parliament assembly was elected in 2022 on an 11% voter turnout after Saied scrapped the previous parliament in what the opposition has now tagged a coup.
As it stands, civil rights activists and opposition parties (including the Free Constitutional Party whose leader is in jail had called for protests on Saturday.
“We are witnessing the capture of the state days before the vote,” a political activist, Chaima Issa said. “We are at the peak of absurdity and one-man rule.”
