|
Listen to article
|
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied had reportedly won re-election in landslide victory after a campaign season that saw his opponents being detained and jailed alongside journalists, activists and attorneys.
The North African country’s Independent High Authority for Elections had revealed on Monday evening that Saied had won 90.7% of the vote — a reflection of how his supporters participated in Sunday’s race while the majority of his detractors chose to boycott.
Read Also: Georgia Supreme Court Restores Controversial Abortion Ban
His closest challenger, businessman Ayachi Zammel, won 7.4% of the vote after sitting in prison for the majority of campaign season facing multiple prison sentences for election-related crimes.
The election was Tunisia’s third since the 2011 Arab Spring, when protests for “bread, freedom and dignity” led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Tunisia’s incumbent president said he would wait for official results before declaring victory while acknowledging exit polls showing him winning by a landslide in an election Sunday marred by earlier arrests of his opponents.
President Kais Saied’s supporters jubilantly honked and celebrated after voting ended and public television broadcast images of the president pledging to pursue traitors and those acting against Tunisia, much like he has throughout his tenure.
“We’re going to cleanse the country of all the corrupt and schemers,” Saied said at his campaign headquarters.
Tunisia’s public television broadcast exit polls from Sigma Conseil, an independent firm that has historically published figures not far off official tallies, showing Saied winning more than 89% of the vote over imprisoned businessman Ayachi Zammel and Zouhair Maghzaoui, a leftist who supported Saied before choosing to run against him.
In the North African country known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring, much of the opposition chose to boycott the election. They called it a sham with Saied’s leading critics imprisoned alongside journalists, lawyers, activists and leading civil society figures. They emphasized the low turnout in Sunday’s election. Official results are expected on Monday.
At the time polling stations closed, only 2.7 million voters, 27.7% of the electorate, had cast ballots — far fewer than the 49% who participated in the first round of the last presidential race in 2019.
Supporters of the president — who rode anti-establishment backlash to win a first term five years ago — said his second win would send a clear message to the political class that preceded his ascendance.
“We’re tired of the governance we had before. We want a leader who wants to work for Tunisia. This country was on the road to ruin,” said Layla Baccouchi, a Saied supporter.
The election was third since Tunisia became the first country to overthrow a longtime dictator in the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. Weeks after a fruit vendor set himself ablaze to protest police humiliation and corruption, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted and fled the country.
