TUNIS, Tunisia — Leila Hammami, a Tunisian university professor, researcher and consultant to international organizations in Britain, declared she will run in next year’s Tunisian presidential election, after her candidacy was rejected in 2014.

In an interview with Russian news agency Sputnik July 16, Hammami said it was time for women to take up important positions in the state, including the position of president. She also stressed that one of the main reasons she will run for president is that Tunisia needs a new political figure who is distant from the past and present conflicts — someone who will be up for the challenges in the international arena.

In the 2014 election, the Independent High Authority for Elections rejected the candidacy of three female candidates: Hammami; Amina al-Karoui, the head of the Democratic Movement for Reform and Construction, which represents itself as a moderate political party; and Badra Gaaloul, the head of the International Center for Strategic, Security and Military Studies, which represents itself as a nongovernmental organization.

Kalthoum Kennou, a judge and former president of the nongovernmental Association of Tunisian Judges, was the first woman to run for president of Tunisia, in November 2014, after the Independent High Authority for Elections approved her candidacy. Kennou was among 26 other candidates, all male, who were approved after meeting the conditions of candidacy, out of a total of 70 candidates who petitioned to run in the presidential race. Among the 70 people who applied, 40 men and three women —​ Hammami, Karoui and Gaaloul ​​— were rejected by the Independent High Authority for Elections for failing to meet the conditions of candidacy stipulated in Article 74 of the constitution.