Terrorist attack thwarted week before Tunisian legislative elections: Will the poll pass peacefully?
Less than a week before the Tunisian legislative elections scheduled for December 17, the National Guard announced that it had thwarted a terrorist plot that planned to target a security unit and a religious institution in Sfax governorate in the south of the country, according to a National Guard press release.
For its part, the Public Prosecution Office of the Judicial Center for Combating Terrorism in Tunisia issued a decision to imprison an unnamed terrorist, accusing him of planning a terrorist attack.
A spokesman for the National Administration of the Tunisian National Guard, Hossam Eddine Jebabli, stated via radio that the person involved is a takfirist element who had previously been imprisoned in a terrorism case, noting that the imprisoned terrorist was proven to have a relationship with terrorist parties in hotbeds of tension and was always armed with a knife.
Peculiarity of the incident
It is not the first time that the Tunisian authorities have announced that they have thwarted a terrorist plot. However, this time bears the peculiarity of the fact that it comes before the elections meant to conclude the transitional period that has been going on since July 25, 2021.
Many political parties, starting with the Brotherhood’s Ennahda movement, civil parties, and even those with extremist ideologies, disagree with the anticipated elections, as each party has its own view but they all agree that the elections are illegitimate.
Ennahda is considered the most affected party, as Tunisia will establish a new system of government that will end the movement's era in power.
Observers fear that Tunisia will witness terrorist operations during the pre-election period, as the electoral process will end the period of Islamist rule.
Failed attempts of another kind
In conjunction with these concerns, the Independent High Authority for Elections monitored an attack on the elections of another kind. The authority’s president, Farouk Bouaskar, said in media statements that the authority monitored fabricated videos and pictures of some candidates showing them with low cultural and intellectual levels.
Bouaskar expressed his belief that the purpose of these videos and pictures spread on social media is to offend the elections and persuade citizens to boycott the vote, thus thwarting the elections.
All attempts to target the elections, whether in terms of distorting their public image or planning terrorist operations, reflect their importance, as they will end the periods of confusion that Tunisia experienced since 2011, or what was known as the Jasmine Revolution, although some warn that the upcoming parliament will in itself be a consecration of the crisis of political division in the country and not a solution.
It is noteworthy that the Tunisian authorities announced more than once the dismantling of terrorist cells and the thwarting of plans aimed at undermining the stability of the state, the most recent of which was the dismantling of a terrorist cell on October 4. It was also revealed last March that a terrorist act was thwarted and suspects involved in it were arrested.
