Only 11% of voters voted in Tunisia’s parliamentary run-offs, with critics of President Kais Saied saying the empty polling stations are evidence of public disdain for his agenda and grabbing powers.
However, Sunday’s runoff election was higher than the first round in December with a participation rate of 8.8%..
“Nearly 90% of Tunisian voters ignored this piece of theatrics and refused to participate in the process,” Ahmed Najib Chebbi, the head of the country’s main opposition, the National Salvation Front, told reporters.
“I call on political groups and civil society to come together to work for change, in the form of the departure of Kais Saied and the holding of early presidential elections.”
The Electoral Commission said that about 887,000 voters cast their ballots out of a total of 7.8 million voters. Final results were not expected on Sunday. Major parties boycotted the vote and most seats are expected to go to independents.
Sunday’s poor turnout was another blow to Saied, who has stripped the legislature of its powers and given himself far-reaching power since his dramatic seizure of power in 2021.
On July 25, 2021, Saied dismissed the government and froze parliament before dissolving it and moving forward with a new constitution, giving him nearly unlimited powers.
The latest poll is seen as the final pillar of Saied’s shift in policy, resulting in the formation of a new legislature that will have almost no power to hold the president or the government accountable.
Opposition groups have accused Saied of staging a coup to shut down the previous parliament in 2021, and say he destroyed the democracy established after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution – which sparked the Arab Spring.
Said said his actions were legal and necessary to save Tunisia from years of corruption and economic decline at the hands of a self-interested political elite.
Although his new constitution was approved in a referendum last year, only 30% of voters turned out.
Tunisia’s economic downturn, in which some basic commodities have disappeared from shelves and the government has slashed subsidies as it seeks an external bailout to avoid bankruptcy, has left many disillusioned with politics and angry with their leaders.
We don’t want elections. “We want milk, sugar and cooking oil,” said Hasnaa, a woman shopping in the Tadamon district of Tunis on Sunday.
Many Tunisians initially appeared to welcome Saied’s seizure of power in 2021 after years of weak ruling coalitions that seemed unable to revive the moribund economy, improve public services or reduce stark inequalities.
But Saeed did not articulate any clear economic agenda beyond denouncing corruption and the unnamed speculators he blamed for the price hike.
On Friday, credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Tunisia’s debt, saying it may default on sovereign loans.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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