Tunisian voters will go to the polls on December 17 to elect new representatives to the Assembly of People’s Representatives. The elections will replace the parliament that was dismissed by President Kais Saïed during his July 2021 seizure of extraordinary powers. These are also the first elections to be held since Tunisia’s constitutional referendum on July 25, 2022, which was marked by low voter participation. The referendum passed and approved a constitution that gave President Saïed increased executive power and weakened checks and balances from Parliament and the judiciary. Independent experts have expressed broad concern over how the new constitution could weaken Tunisia’s democracy and erode respect for human rights and freedoms in the country.

The referendum was directly followed by Saïed’s decree of a new election law that significantly weakens the electoral system and the role that political parties play in it. The law abolishes the previous list-based system for seating members of Parliament; imposes organizational barriers to candidacy by removing public financing and requiring campaigns to self-finance or receive private financial support; and removes quotas that required an equal number of women and men candidates, as well as candidates under the age of 35. In response to the new election law, Tunisia’s main opposition alliance has indicated its intention to boycott the December polls. Foreign observers and Tunisian politicians, including some Saïed supporters, have identified the need for a new electoral law that facilitates broader participation in December’s elections.

President Saïed’s September 2022 decree criminalizing the production and dissemination of “rumors and fake news” has also raised serious concerns about the criminalization of online content during this electoral period. Those found guilty of publishing or sharing “false news, false data, rumors, false documents, or documents that are falsified or falsely attributed to others” can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years. Prison terms increase to up to 10 years if the person targeted is a public official. The decree does not define or provide clarity on the terms “fake news” or “rumor,” allowing for security services and prosecutors to invoke an expansive definition of the terms so as to curtail political discourse and silence criticism of the government ahead of elections.

Moreover, the new election law prevents anyone who has been charged with a legal violation from candidacy. Independent observers are concerned that Saïed could use the decree criminalizing rumors or fake news specifically to prevent those who have criticized him from running for office. Coupled with Saïed’s moves to consolidate power and rewrite the constitution, these developments have contributed to deep uncertainty about civic space and the future of Tunisian democracy.

Freedom House has identified the following key digital issues to watch ahead of election day:

• Criminalization of Online Content: Since President Saïed’s July 2021 seizure of power, there has been an alarming increase in prosecutions against journalists, commentators, and users for their online content. In September 2022, security officers arrested Ghassen Ben Khelifa, the chief editor of a local independent news outlet. His arrest came after he published an opinion article that criticized the constitutional referendum. In July 2022, prominent blogger Oteyl Herzi was arrested by security forces after publishing a Facebook post criticizing local officials. In May 2022, the Court of First Instance in Tunis sentenced blogger Amina Mansour to six months in prison for satirical comments on Facebook in which she criticized President Saïed and his close associates.
• Intimidation and Harassment: In addition to arrests and prosecutions, users, activists, and journalists have been subjected to extralegal attempts to silence critical voices ahead of the election. In September 2021, nine digital media journalists were targeted with violence by security forces at the first demonstration organized after the president’s seizure of extraordinary powers in July 2021. Additionally, a journalist from the Shems FM radio station, which has a strong online presence, was verbally attacked by a regional governor for requesting information about the national consultation process that the president had initiated as part of his plans to overhaul the constitution.
• Disinformation: In the past, researchers and election monitoring organizations have identified progovernment propaganda and disinformation that has negatively impacted the integrity of online civic spaces ahead of elections. Research has found that since the political crisis began in July 2021, President Saïed and his government have taken measures to consolidate broader influence over online media spaces. In a report on political pluralism covering the period surrounding President Saïed’s seizure of power, the Independent High Authority for Audio-Visual Communication (HAICA) found that content published by the national broadcaster was “totally aligned” with the president’s views and excluded views from his critics. Ahead of the 2019 elections, the Tunisian Association for the Integrity of Elections (ATIDE) launched a project to monitor social media networks that found evidence of the coordinated use of Facebook pages to publish content praising or criticizing particular candidates in an inauthentic manner.

Tunisia has a score of 66 out of 100, with 100 representing the least vulnerability in terms of election integrity, on Freedom House’s Election Vulnerability Index, which is based on a selection of key election-related indicators. The score reflects problems with the most recent legislative elections and the president’s unilateral suspension of Parliament, laws criminalizing protected online activities, and harsh restrictions on civil liberties to suppress public dissent. The country is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2022, with a score of 64 out of 100 with respect to its political rights and civil liberties, and Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2022, with a score of 61 out of 100. Tunisia’s Freedom in the World status declined from Free to Partly Free and the score declined by seven points in Freedom in the World 2022, which covered developments in the 2021 calendar year. Scores and ratings for Tunisia in the Freedom in the World 2023 report, covering the 2022 calendar year, will be released in the spring of 2023. To learn more about these annual Freedom House assessments, please visit the Tunisia country reports for Freedom in the World and Freedom on the Net.