The Tunisian electoral authority (Isie) confirmed Wednesday (October 2nd) that the second round of presidential elections will take place on Sunday October 13th and that the election campaign started on Thursday.

This duel will oppose the controversial businessman Nabil Karoui, accused of tax evasion and money laundering and currently incarcerated, to independent academic Kais Saied, who came in first on September 15 (18.4%) to everyone's surprise.

On Tuesday, the court rejected a new request for the release of the businessman. His spokesman Hatem Mliki called for the second round of the presidential election to be suspended while the candidate is in prison. A possible appeal to claim a postponement of the second round is under consideration, said a member of the defense committee Wednesday.

At a press conference, Osama Khlifi, a member of Qalb Tounes' office, Nabil Karoui's party, called on Isie to "adapt to the situation today which is not normal". "Isie can neither advance nor postpone the date of elections, under the Constitution," retorted the president of the case, Nabil Baffoun, at another press conference.

"We have made every effort to ensure equal opportunities," he added. "We have sent letters to the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General and even the judge in charge of the case to give Nabil Karoui the opportunity to express themselves in the media, or even to release him" .

"Guarantee equal opportunities between the two candidates"

Many political and institutional leaders had called for the right of both candidates to campaign fairly. For the supporters of Nabil Karoui, this requires the release of the incarcerated candidate since August 23, ten days before the start of the campaign for the first round of the presidential election.

After accusing outgoing and rival Prime Minister Youssef Chahed of being behind this incarceration, they pointed to Wednesday the Islamist party Ennahdha, presented as their main contender for the legislative Sunday.

Nabil Karoui's detractors point out that he was able to campaign through the television channel he founded, Nessma, one of Tunisia's leading private channels, and through his charity Khalil Tounes. .

>> To see, interview with Salwa Smaoui, wife of Nabil Karoui, imprisoned candidate

Acting President Mohamed Ennaceur once again called for "equal opportunities between the two candidates", and convened a meeting with the powerful UGTT trade union center and the employers' organization Utica to discuss ways to create a climate to protect the democratic process ".

The incarceration of one of the two finalists undermines the credibility of the second presidential election by universal suffrage in the history of a country where the democracy obtained on the street in 2011 is still being consolidated.

Parliamentary elections

These twists and turns make the Sunday legislative elections, which are crucial for drawing the Tunisian political landscape of the next five years, in the background. Seven million Tunisians are expected to elect their deputies on October 6th. More than 1,500 lists, including more than 15,000 candidates, compete for the 217 seats in the Assembly of People's Representatives (APR).

Unlike 2014, when Ennahdha and Nidaa Tounes, the two dominant parties, had shared power, the outcome of these legislative is uncertain. The publication of polls is prohibited. But according to unofficial studies, the independent lists could come first, ahead of the party of Nabil Karoui and Ennahdha, followed by movements like Aïch Tounsi or Karama, led by the populist Islamist lawyer Seifeddine Makhlouf.

The Free Destourian Party, led by anti-Islamist lawyer Abir Moussi, could score better than the 4% of its leader in the presidential election.

>> To read also: Tunisian presidential election: Nabil Karoui, the "Tunisian Berlusconi", candidate since his prison

With AFP and Reuters