In an election that generated much controversy and was criticised by rights groups, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has won a second term with over 80% of the vote, according to what the electoral commission has said.
In Sunday’s ballot, only two candidates out of more than 12 other aspirants were allowed to vie for the presidential seat. It was also reported that only 29% of the more than nine million registered voters participated in the elections.
Saied’s closest challenger, businessman Ayachi Zammel, won 7% of the vote despite being sentenced to 12 years in prison for forging documents five days before the poll.
This controversial election had no campaign rallies nor public debates, and almost all the campaign posters in the streets were supporting the president.
About five political parties had urged people to shun the elections in the belief that they would not be free nor fair.
For the longest time, Tunisia was regarded as a beacon of democracy in the North African region but since Saied (a former law professor) was elected on a wave of optimism in 2019, the 66-year-old has suspended parliament, revised the constitution and concentrated power into his hands.
He was widely believed to win a second term after the authorities arrested and jailed dissidents as well as potential competitors.
This was further buttressed when the country’s Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) said on Monday evening.
“According to preliminary results, Saied received 2,438,954 favourable votes.”
The third candidate on the ballot, former lawmaker Zouhair Maghzaou, gathered almost 2% of the vote.
The electoral agency also added that the final results of the presidential election would be announced early next month.
Sunday’s election was Tunisia’s third presidential ballot since Ben Ali was deposed in 2011 after months of massive protests. He had been in power for more than two decades before he was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia, where he died in 2019.
Amnesty International has lamented “a worrying decline in fundamental rights” under Saied’s government as dissatisfaction mounts over his regarded authoritarian style of governance.
But Saied has rejected this criticism, with the opinion that he was fighting a “corrupt elite” and “traitors”.
