The barring of independent election observers from Sunday’s presidential vote in Tunisia reflects a broad crackdown on rights groups ahead of the ballot which President Kais Saied is widely expected to win, activists say. The Tunisian electoral board, ISIE, says it will not allow observers from I Watch and Mourakiboun to monitor the vote, alleging they received suspicious foreign funds. The two watchdogs have been monitoring Tunisian elections for fraud since the 2011 uprising that ousted former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. His ouster ushered in the Arab Spring regional uprisings, all of which failed except in Tunisia which, for a time, became the only democracy to emerge from the Middle East movements against authoritarianism. But the north African country’s path changed dramatically soon after Saied’s democratic election in 2019. He orchestrated a sweeping power grab that included dissolving parliament and replacing it with a legislature with limited powers. He has jailed opposition figures and critics, and his five years in power drew scrutiny in a report issued by I Watch. Souhaieb Ferchichi, a senior campaigner at I Watch, told AFP the electoral board, ISIE, accused the group of “not being neutral” weeks after the report came out. Ferchichi acknowledged that his organisation received foreign funds. But it was done “in a legal framework, with donors that the Tunisian state recognises, such as the European Union”. ISIE has not responded to AFP’s query on the matter. Mourakiboun called the suspicious funding allegations baseless. In a statement, it said it had “always conducted (election) observations impartially, without ever taking sides with any political faction”.