Tunisia's Administrative Court upheld on Thursday an appeal by prominent opposition candidate Mondher Znaidi, allowing him to return to the presidential race on Oct 6.
Mr Znaidi’s candidacy was initially rejected by the Independent High Authority for Elections of Tunisia (ISIE) due to alleged insufficient voters’ signatures, a criteria that must be fulfilled in order to be able to stand in the race.
“The court accepted the appeal of Mondher Znaidi in form and in substance and overturned the initial [court] ruling to issue a new one that cancels the appealed ISIE decision and accepts the candidacy application [of Mr Znaidi] for the upcoming October 6 elections,” spokesperson for the Tunis Administrative Court, Faycel Bouguerra, told The National.
The ruling is the second of its kind this week after a similar decision by the court on Tuesday enabling the return of former minister of health Abdellatif El Mekki to the race.
"The state of law has triumphed," Mr Znaidi said in a statement on his official Facebook page.
"Populism has divided Tunisians, and today it is time to unite against it, save the country, and start repairing what has been damaged."
Mr Bouguerra said that the court’s decisions on the appeals are final and could not be challenged even at the Court of Cassation, and that ISIE should therefore automatically re-list the two as candidates.
The Electoral Authority ISIE is yet to confirm it added Mr Znaidi and Mr El Mekki to the list of presidential candidates.
“We did not just say that we have only overturned the Authority’s [ISIE] decision… We said that we are cancelling this decision and accepting the candidacy request which means their direct listing [as candidates],” he explained.
The Tunis Administrative Court is also expected to hand down another ruling on Friday regarding an appeal made by presidential hopeful Imed Deimi.
So far, only two other presidential hopefuls, former MPs Zouhair Maghzaoui and Ayachi Zammel, have been confirmed as potential challengers to Mr Saied.
However, Mr Zammel is currently standing for trial, together with his campaign manager, on charges relating to falsifying voters' signatures. Verdict on the case is expected to be issued later on Thursday. If convicted, he could be eliminated from the race and potentially face a prison sentence.
Mr Znaidi, who lives in Paris, was a former minister under the regime of the late Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, ousted following a mass uprising in 2011.
The 73 year old based his presidential bid on the promise of bringing Tunisians together again saying that “he wants to rebuild Tunisia, unite all Tunisians and end years of division that Saied sowed”.
Observers believe that Mr Znaidi, who is trying to gain leverage from the overwhelming dissatisfaction of the performance of the political class in the past 13 years could make him stand as a serious contender for resident Kais Saied.
Mr El Mekki, formerly a senior official at Ennahda party before leaving in 2022 to establish the rivalling Action and Achievement Party, could be also regarded as serious contender in the race as he still enjoys widespread support from the Islamist party's electoral base.
Ennahda, one of the main opposition parties to president Saied, has not presented any candidates for the upcoming October presidential elections but it also did not exclude the possibility of backing other candidates in the race.
Tunisian opposition and human rights groups have repeatedly accused authorities in the past few months of attempting to restrict liberties and intimidate Mr Saied's opponents to ensure his reelection.