Tunisia's electoral commission accepts just three candidates for presidential election

TUNIS, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Tunisia’s electoral commission said on Saturday it had preliminarily accepted only three presidential candidates, including incumbent Kais Saied, amid widespread criticism of what the opposition says are moves to exclude serious contenders.

The commission said it had accepted the candidacies of Saied and Zouhair Magzhaoui, who is seen as close to Saied, and Ayachi Zammel for the Oct. 6 election, while rejecting 14 others.

Zammel is the head of the Azimoun party, and has not previously been regarded as a influential politician.

Prominent politicians, including Mondher Znaidi, Imed Daimi, Abdel Latif Mekki, Karim Gharbi, Safi Said, Kamel Akrout and Nizar Chaari, said the interior ministry refused to provide them with the criminal record details required by the commission as a new condition to run.

They accused the authorities of seeking to return Tunisia to the years of dictatorship and sham elections that were the norm before a revolution in 2011.