Tunisian Defence Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi on Wednesday submitted his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for September 15 as an independent. He announced that he would soon resign from the government, reported Reuters. The presidential elections in Tunisia were rescheduled after the sudden demise of President Beji Caid Essebsi at the age of 92, late last month.
The 69-year-old Zbidi has the support of secular parties including Nidaa Tounes and Afek Tounes and is likely to emerge as one of the frontrunners in the election. He served as defence minister after Ben Ali was overthrown until March 2013, when he quit a cabinet led by Ennahda. In 2017, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed re-appointed Zbidi as defence minister.
Zbidi’s strongest rival is Prime Minister Chahed himself, who will run as a candidate for the liberal Tahya Tounes Party.
Earlier this week, Tunisia’s biggest political party Ennahda nominated its vice president Abdel Fattah Mourou as the presidential candidate. He is the first presidential nominee from the moderate Islamist party since Tunisia transitioned to democracy after the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Some of the other candidates are liberal former Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa and Moncef Marzouki, who served as interim president for three years after 2011. Notably, Tunisia’s president has primary authority over the country’s foreign and defence policy, governing alongside a prime minister chosen by parliament who has authority over domestic affairs.
Those willing to stand for the Presidential election have until August 9 to register, with the election commission set to provide a final list of candidates on August 31. The election campaigns are scheduled to run from 2 September to 13 September. The preliminary voting results will be announced two days after the polls.
A date for the second round of presidential elections has not yet been decided, but the electoral commission said it would be held no later than 3 November.
