NNA - Tunisian police arrested presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel on Monday, a member of his campaign told Reuters, amid growing fears among rights groups and the opposition that prominent rivals to President Kais Saied will be excluded from the race.

The electoral commission is preparing to announce on Monday the final list of accepted candidates for the presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 6.

Mahdi Abdel Jawad said police had arrested Zammel at his home at about 3:00 a.m. on suspicion of falsifying popular endorsements and added that “the matter has become absurd and aims to exclude him from the election.”

The electoral commission and the interior ministry did not immediately comment. – Reuters

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