“The court in Tunis sentenced Ayachi Zammel to 12 years in prison in four cases” related to voter endorsements, lawyer Abdessater Messoudi told AFP.

Messoudi said Zammel “remains a candidate in the election” on Sunday.

The frontrunner is incumbent President Kais Saied, who was elected in 2019 but later orchestrated a sweeping power grab that included dissolving parliament and replacing it with a legislature with limited powers.

Former lawmaker Zammel heads a small liberal party, and had been one of just two candidates approved by Tunisia’s electoral authority ISIE to challenge Saied for the top post.

Ahead of the vote, ISIE had rejected the bids of some 14 hopefuls.

It eventually presented a final list of just three candidates – Saied, former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui, and businessman Zammel.

On Sept 18, his lawyer said Zammel had been handed a 20-month prison term for charges related to forging voter endorsements.