Tunisia’s Kais Said busy silencing rivals ahead of presidential elections

Tunisian autocrat Kais Saied is intensifying crackdown to silence potential rivals as he seeks re-election in the presidential elections due in October.

The president has ordered a campaign against critical voices in the media and civil society, drawing criticism from rights watchdogs.

The most recent measures against political opponents included the arrest of Lotfi Mraihi, leader of the Republican Union Party, on the charges of money laundering and opening bank accounts abroad without a permit from the central bank.

The arrest, which came after he announced his intention to bid for the presidential elections, is the latest episode in a campaign against the president’s critics.

Similar charges have been directed at other candidates such as Safi Saeed, Nizar Chaari, and Abd Ellatif Mekki, while other prominent critics, including Abir of the Free Constitutional Party and Islamist Ennahda leader Ghanouchi have been in jail for nearly a year.

Silencing political opponents is seen as a tactic by the President who is expected to run for a second term and who vowed not to leave power to what he described as “non-patriorts.”

Mondher Znaidi, a prominent potential candidate who is living in France, is also facing prosecution on suspicion of corruption.

Kais Saied has fostered his power grab by sending scores of journalists and political activists to jail.

Since he took power, he gradually cracked down on checks and balances, dissolving parliament, controlling the judiciary and controlling monetary policy as the country’s financial and social stability erodes.

Meanwhile, he has surfed on anti-migrant rhetoric and populism to derail attention from deteriorating living conditions and diplomatic isolation of Tunisia under his firm grip.