Tunisians massively shunned the ballot boxes on Saturday, December 17, when they were called upon to renew their Parliament. The opposition coalition called for the resignation of President Kaïs Saïed, who had wanted this legislative election to put an end to the process initiated by his July 2021 coup.
According to the Tunisian electoral commission, only 8.8% of voters, or some 803,000 voters out of 9 million, voted. This is the lowest voter turnout since the 2011 Revolution, after records – nearly 70% in the October 2014 legislative elections.
The president of the electoral authority, Farouk Bouasker, acknowledged a “modest but not shameful rate”considering that it was explained by “the total absence of vote buying (…) with foreign fundingunlike in the past, according to him.
“What happened today was an earthquake”said Ahmed Néjib Chebbi, the leader of the National Salvation Front. “From this moment, we consider that Saïed is an illegitimate president and we demand that he resign after this fiasco”, he added. The opposition also invited Tunisians to “Massive protests and sit-ins” to demand a new presidential election.
For Jawhar Ben Mbarek (National Salvation Front), “The Tunisian people have sent a message to the foreign forces – some of which supported the Kaïs Saïed coup – and to the IMF that they do not recognize this government, so they must reconsider their calculations”.
Unknown candidates
Accusing for months Mr. Saïed (elected at the end of 2019) of “dictatorial drift”, the opposition and most political groups boycotted the vote. They also denounced a change in the electoral law, imposing candidacies without party affiliation. Before the vote, the powerful UGTT trade union center had also deemed these legislative elections unnecessary.
The new Assembly of 161 deputies, with very limited powers, must replace the one that Mr. Saïed had frozen on July 25, 2021, arguing that the democratic institutions resulting from the first revolt of the Arab Spring, after the fall of dictator Ben Ali, were blocked. , in 2011.
Another factor that could explain the disaffection: the candidates (1,055), half teachers or civil servants, were essentially unknown, with very few women (less than 12%) in a country committed to parity. For months, the economic crisis has been the major concern of the 12 million Tunisians, with inflation of nearly 10% and recurring shortages of milk, sugar or rice.
Preliminary results of this first round of legislative elections will be announced on Monday.