Tunisia - (AFP) - Tunisian non-governmental organizations on Tuesday accused the electoral commission of threatening freedom of expression after it took legal action against media outlets and social media pages for alleged irregularities related to the referendum on the new constitution in July.

On December 22, the Independent High Authority for Elections filed 24 complaints before the Court of First Instance in Tunis against media outlets and Facebook pages, on charges including “defamation,” “insulting good morals,” “foreign funding,” “political advertising,” and “insulting the dignity of voters,” according to what was stated in the Official Gazette.

The commission said that these violations were committed through leaflets during the electoral campaign for the July 25 referendum, which witnessed a large abstention in voting on a new constitution that would impose an enhanced presidential system proposed by President Kais Saied.

In a joint statement, 28 Tunisian non-governmental organizations denounced "threats made by the Electoral Commission against freedom of opinion and expression that amounted to censorship of the media," and considered this "a backward, poor practice hostile to freedoms."

Non-governmental organizations, including the Journalists Syndicate, the Tunisian Association for Rights and Freedoms, and the Tunisian Organization for the Prevention of Torture, condemned the "censorship" practiced by the commission and the "police's role as a watchdog over public opinion and the media."

The organizations expressed their astonishment at "the Electoral Commission's lack of interest in the integrity and transparency of the electoral process and the provision of a sound electoral climate based on freedom."

Since President Kais Saied monopolized the executive and legislative powers in July 2021, many local and international NGOs have denounced the decline in freedoms in Tunisia.