Forgery of Presidential Election Endorsements Disrupts Tunisia’s Campaign

In recent days, the issue of “forging endorsements” has dominated the discourse around Tunisia’s upcoming presidential elections, following numerous reports and complaints filed with the High Independent Authority for Elections, along with stories that confirm violations and misconduct during the collection of the required endorsements for presidential candidacy, scheduled for October 6th.

The Public Prosecution at the Tunis First Instance Court authorized the opening of a judicial investigation into allegations of forgery and the use of personal data without consent, as confirmed by the court’s spokesperson, Sami Samadhi, to the Tunis Afrique Presse Agency.

Samadhi stated, “Eight citizens filed security complaints, claiming they discovered, after using the verification service provided by the High Independent Authority for Elections, that their personal data had been exploited and used to endorse a presidential candidate without their consent. Some of these citizens, mostly elderly, mentioned that they had endorsed a candidate but later found out they had actually endorsed another candidate.” Upon receiving these reports, the authorities immediately questioned the person in charge of collecting endorsements for the candidate in question, and investigations are ongoing as they await the results of technical tests and complete the remaining investigations that have involved others connected to the suspect’s campaign.

On the other hand, Manouba First Instance Court spokesperson, Sundus Al-Nawawi, stated on Friday that the Public Prosecution at the court authorized the opening of a judicial file at the Research and Inspection Division of the National Guard in Teburba on “suspicions of forging endorsements, and offering inducements to influence voters,” and demanded technical tests to verify the allegations of forgery.

Al-Nawawi added, in a statement to the Tunis Afrique Presse Agency, that this came after 11 people from Teburba filed direct complaints with the aforementioned division, confirming that their personal data had been used to fill out endorsement forms for a presidential candidate without their consent or desire. She explained that the complainants discovered this after using the verification service provided by the election commission to the public, aimed at countering any attempts at forgery and confirming the authenticity of endorsements.

Al-Nawawi emphasized that investigations were immediately launched, and a person testified that they had been instructed by someone to carry out this task, while investigations are ongoing as they await the technical tests that will confirm whether the endorsements were forged or not.

In a related context, the spokesperson for the Administrative Court, Faisal Boukhris, told the Tunis Afrique Presse Agency that an appellate chamber issued a ruling on Friday “rejecting the appeal in form concerning a challenge filed by a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, thus not addressing the substance of the dispute.” This case, the first to be decided by the Administrative Court, involves the candidacy of Naji Jalloul, leader of the National Coalition Party, who had previously announced his intention to go to the administrative judiciary after the High Independent Authority for Elections rejected his candidacy for the presidential elections.

Boukhris added that the remaining appellate chambers tasked with reviewing the other appeals submitted to the court “have set dates for issuing the remaining rulings, with three rulings expected to be issued on Sunday, and two more on Monday. By then, all rulings concerning initial litigation related to the candidacies for the upcoming presidential elections would have been issued,” he said.