TUNIS, Aug 18 (NNN-TAP) — 12 challenges have been filed so far against the preliminary list of candidates approved for Tunisia’s Sept 15 early presidential election.
Two of the candidates have not informed the Independent High Authority for Elections (French: ISIE) of their decision to go to court, which suggests that their challenge will be rejected for defect of form at Monday’s court hearing, ISIE member in charge of communication Adel Brinsi told TAP.
The Administrative court will next Tuesday rule on the rest of the challenges concerning the nominations of Lazhar Ghozlani, Mohamed Hedi Ben Hassine, Mohamed Saleh Jannedi, Bahri Jelassi, Mounir Baatour, Leila Hammami, Sahbi Brahem, Mohamed El Awset Ayari, Marwane Ben Amor and Abdellatif Dridi.
It is possible that Bechir Awani will also join the challenging candidates because the decision to reject his nomination reached him late, Brinsi said.
26 out of 97 candidates were shortlisted to run for the presidential election.
The final list will be announced on Aug 31 after ruling on all the challenges.
The election campaign will be launched on Sept 2.
ISIE also on Saturday published the list of 152 MPs who sponsored 11 candidates among the 26 approved for the early presidential elections.
Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had the highest number of parliamentary sponsorships with 30 endorsements, followed by Abdelfattah Mourou and Abdelkrim Zidi with 17 each.
Candidates Slim Riahi and Nabil Karoui were sponsored by 12 MPs each, while Salma Elloumi, Hamadi Jebali, Moncef Marzouki and Hatem Boulabiar were sponsored by 11 MPs each.
Second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Faouzia Ben Foddha, who ran in the legislative elections as top of the list of Al Badil Ettounsi (Manouba constituency), is among the 12 MPs who endorsed Slim Riahi’s candidacy for president.
Mongi Rahoui and Elyes Fakhfekh had the minimum number of sponsorships required under the electoral law, namely 10. — NNN-TAP
