Rejected poll monitors accuse Tunisia’s election authorities of bias

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Election officials in Tunisia have doubled down on their decision to deny accreditation to certain election observer groups. Those groups say the move shows that the October election in the North African country won’t be free and fair. The watchdog group I-Watch said Monday the country’s election authority had accused them of nefarious motives and taking foreign funds as a pretext to deny them access to the polls. The quarrel is the latest in a string of controversies that have plagued the election authority in recent months, throughout which candidates have been arrested or barred from participating in the election through various means.