Khamis Ben Brik-Tunisia

No one knows what will happen to the candidate of the Heart of Tunisia candidate Nabil Karoui if he wins during the second round of the presidential elections. Despite the uncertainty surrounding his legal status, a number of scenarios await him.

The villager, who has been detained in Mornaguia prison in the capital since August 23 on charges of money laundering and tax evasion, continues to rise to the second round with university professor Qais Said, who released the results of the first round of the elections, according to unofficial results.

Earlier, opinion polls predicted he would be at the forefront of the presidential election thanks to his ability to gain the sympathy of the people of marginalized areas through the activities of his charity "Khalil Tunis" supported by the propaganda of his private satellite channel "Nessma".

Different hypotheses
However, after Karoui qualifies for the second round, the most common question now is whether he will become president of Tunisia and leave the prison or will the judiciary insist on imprisoning him if he wins the presidency?

For his part, does not rule out the former judge Ahmed al-Sawab refused to release him even if he won the presidency, and this will result in the cancellation of the election results and call for early elections based on article 84 of the Constitution, in his opinion.

"This hypothesis can be obtained with a political rejection of his rise from ruling parties that employ part of the independent judiciary to exclude him," he said, referring to current Prime Minister Youssef Chahed.

On the other hand, some believe that the villager may survive if he wins the presidency on the grounds that he received constitutional immunity in accordance with Article 87 of the Constitution, but even this scenario has a wide difference of views amid the absence of a constitutional court and a legislative vacuum on this issue.

There are two different interpretations of Chapter 87 of the Constitution on the immunity of the president, one of which is that the head of state has enjoyed immunity since his victory was declared during the final results, while the second believes that he has no immunity before taking the oath.

One of the most complex cases is the charge of money laundering and tax evasion. Because of this, it is judicially difficult to issue a verdict that removes him from the first round race and to compensate him with third place candidate of the Renaissance movement, Abdel Fattah Moro.

For his part, member of the Electoral Commission Mohammed al-Tilili al-Mansri to the island.

He explained that if he wins the second round of the enlarged presidential elections, the electoral commission will declare his victory in accordance with the law, but "more than that it falls within the powers of the judiciary, the only authority to decide crimes of public right and determine the fate of the villager," as he put it.

President's immunity
In a related context, says Imad bin Halima of the Committee for the Defense of the villagers of the island. Net, that the case has not yet been in the process of testing to prove whether the villager has really committed financial crimes, stressing that there are three financial experts from the economic and financial judicial pole have not yet launched their investigations that It may last months.

This means that Nabil Karoui "may win the second round of elections before the issuance of a preliminary verdict is now against him to drop his candidacy." "The villager may be released from prison at the request of the defense committee of the indictment department after he has issued the results," he said.

He considered that his suspension was a judicial decision issued by political pressure, but "the data changed today after his rise to the second round of the elections," stressing that "the pressure that was placed on judges from the indictment became of the past after the defeat of the current prime minister in the elections."

But if the indictment rejects the call for Karoui's release, even if he wins the second round of elections, Ben Halima says he will "nevertheless gain the status of president as soon as he declares victory", asserting that he will enjoy constitutional immunity under Article 87 of the constitution.

Ben-Halima does not lose sight of the view that immunity takes place after the swearing-in and during the performance of the President's duties, but not before, but says that the swearing-in is "a formality" and that the candidate has acquired the status of President of the Republic since his election by the sovereign people.

He adds that the villagers' opponents are seeking to issue a "legal opinion" to declare the vacancy in the presidency and call for new presidential elections on the grounds that he "is unable to take the constitutional oath before parliament."

In the absence of the Constitutional Court five years ago, the country could be plunged into a severe political crisis in the absence of the Constitutional Court, due to tensions within the parliament, the existence of a legislative vacuum and the failure to prevent the electoral law from nominating anyone on charges.