A majority of Tunisian MPs approved a bill on Friday to transfer election oversight powers from the independent Administrative Court to the country’s general appellate courts. The law, now in effect, was proposed one week ago and comes just days before the country’s October 6 presidential election.

The primary impact of this law is that it will now require all election-related disputes to be filed with Tunisia’s intermediate and high court within 48 hours of a contested outcome. Previously, this was the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court, which will no longer play a role. According to local media, both the proposal and passing of the bill sparked public protests opposing this law, characterizing it as a “blow to the foundations of the electoral system and aim to strip the administrative judiciary of its exclusive role.”

The Constitution of Tunisia provides for a court system that includes an independent Administrative Court which, until yesterday, had jurisdiction over administrative disputes relating to the use of government power, including elections. The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) is the government body responsible for organizing and supervising elections in Tunisia. Thus, part of the Administrative Court’s function is to ensure the ISIE fulfills its mandate fairly. The courts now tasked with election adjudication are the general courts that oversee civil and criminal matters.

With Tunisia’s presidential election approaching, human rights groups have criticized recent government arrests of opposition members and journalists. The new law was proposed in response to a recent event when the Administrative Court reinstated three presidential candidates who had been disqualified by the ISIE, which rejected the court’s ruling and approved three other candidates, including the incumbent President, instead. 14 other candidates were also barred.

Tunisia had its first democratic elections in 2014 after the Arab Spring but experienced a shift in its political structure in 2021 when its current president, Kais Saied, dismissed the government of the day and announced that he would assume executive authority and rule by decree. He subsequently issued a decree that dissolved the Superior Council of the Judiciary, which was implemented in the 2014 Constitution to guarantee judicial independence. The general courts continue to this day without a Superior Council.

Additionally, in 2022, constitutional amendments that significantly expanded presidential powers were put to a national referendum boycotted by most of the country’s opposition and were approved. The status of Tunisia’s judicial independence and civil liberties have been called into question since the president started ruling by decree 2021, with Human Rights Watch describing him as “wield[ing] almost unchallenged power after eliminating nearly all institutional checks and balances on executive power.”