Police in Tunisia arrested at least 80 members of the opposition Ennahdha movement on the event date, according to party officials cited by Al Jazeera, as protests against President Kais Saied gathered in the capital.
The arrests were reported as the campaign season formally opened ahead of the October 6 presidential election. Ennahdha’s lawyers said the party had counted at least 80 arrests and was still confirming a total that could reach 116, including six women. Yusra Ghannouchi, the daughter of detained party co-founder Rached Ghannouchi, said more than 100 members had been arrested, including an activist in her 70s.
The party called the operation an unprecedented campaign of raids and violations of basic rights. Ahmed Gaaloul, a member of Ennahdha’s executive committee, said some of those detained were senior officials. The scale of the arrests makes clear that the pressure on the opposition is not limited to isolated figures but is reaching deep into the organisation.
The crackdown also comes against a broader backdrop of concern over the conduct of the presidential race. Saied’s critics accuse his administration of using arbitrary restrictions and intimidation to secure re-election. Earlier this month, police arrested opposition politician Ayachi Zammel, one of only two challengers left in the race. In August, the electoral commission removed three prominent candidates, and the court handling election disputes later ordered them reinstated. The commission rejected that ruling.
Saied’s supporters say he is fighting corruption and traitors. His critics say the state has become increasingly authoritarian, with the election commission and security forces being used to narrow the field before voters even cast their ballots. The latest arrests will likely deepen that dispute rather than settle it.
Outside the police stations and party offices, thousands of people took to the streets of Tunis. They chanted against what they called a police state and demanded the release of political prisoners, journalists and activists detained for criticising the president. The protests suggest that the arrests did not intimidate the opposition into silence; instead, they seem to have amplified the sense that Tunisia’s political competition is being managed under pressure.
Ennahdha was once the largest party in parliament before Saied dissolved the chamber in July 2021. The arrests therefore carry significance beyond the immediate election cycle. They represent a renewed test of whether Tunisia’s institutions can still tolerate organised opposition in the run-up to a vote that critics already see as tightly controlled.
