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Low turnout hobbles Tunisia’s second round of parliamentary polls

Tunisia has announced that a mere
11 percent of the electorate had voted in parliamentary
runoffs, with critics of President Kais Saied saying the empty
polling stations were evidence of public disdain for his agenda.

The head of the electoral commission, over which Saied
assumed ultimate authority last year, gave a provisional turnout
of 11.3 percent for Sunday’s runoff votes.

During December’s first round, the official turnout was only
slightly lower, at 11.2 percent.

“Today Tunisians issued a final verdict rejecting Kais
Saied’s process and elections,” Nejib Chebbi, head of the main
opposition coalition, the Salvation Front, told a news
conference.

Opposition activist Chaima Issa, who has led protests against Saied and faces a military court on charges of insulting the president, described the poll as a “ghost election”.

Economic decline in Tunisia, where some basic goods have disappeared from shelves and the government has cut subsidies as it seeks a foreign bailout to avert bankruptcy, has left many disillusioned with politics and angry with their leaders.

“We don’t want elections. We want milk and sugar and cooking oil,” said Hasna, a woman shopping in the Ettadamon district of Tunis on Sunday.

READ MORE: Tunisians vote in second round of poll for defanged parliament

Weakened parliament

The newly configured parliament has had its role shrunk as
part of a political system Saied introduced last year after a
power grab in 2021 that grants the presidency nearly absolute
power.

About 887,000 voters cast ballots from a total electorate of
7.8 million, the electoral commission said. The main parties boycotted the vote and
most seats are expected to go to independents.

Independent observers, including the local Mourakiboun
group, have questioned official turnout figures, accusing
authorities in many districts of withholding data they rely on
to monitor the election’s integrity.

The commission denied this and said polling station
officials had been too busy to cooperate with monitors.

Opposition groups have accused Saied of a coup for shutting
down the previous parliament in 2021, and say he has dismantled the
democracy built after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution – which
triggered the “Arab Spring”.

Saied has said his actions were both legal and necessary to
save Tunisia from years of corruption and economic decline at
the hands of a self-interested political elite.

Though his new constitution passed in a referendum last
year, only 30 percent of voters took part.

READ MORE: Thousands of Tunisians protest against president’s rule

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