Kais Saied does not currently intend to play the mea culpa card on his way of leading Tunisia. The country’s president on Wednesday played down the massive abstention in the recent legislative elections. He even violently attacked his critics who denounce a decline in freedoms in the country since he monopolized power.
The electoral authority officially announced a turnout of 11.22% in the legislative elections on December 17, very slightly up from the preliminary figure of 8.8% made public after the polls closed. This participation, by far the lowest since the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship in 2011, was interpreted as a snub for Kais Saied, the new Parliament without any real powers being the last edifice of the hyper-presidentialist system that he is putting in place place since its July 2021 coup.
A vehement tone against his detractors
“A turnout of 9% or 12% is better than the 99% that was announced in previous elections hailed by foreign capitals knowing they were rigged,” Kais Saied told a meeting. at the Carthage Palace with the head of government Najla Bouden, several ministers, including that of Defense, and security officials.
The president also violently attacked his opponents and detractors, without ever mentioning them by name, accusing them of “undermining the state and its symbols”, an action which, according to him, is akin to “a conspiracy against the internal and external security of the State”. “This cannot continue and these people cannot remain unpunished within the framework of the law,” he added in a very vehement tone, according to a video of the meeting released by the presidency.
The leader also accused his opponents of orchestrating the recurrent shortages of certain basic food products that Tunisia has been experiencing for several months, in order to use them “to set citizens against state institutions”. Kais Saied also denied any decline in freedoms and rights in Tunisia since his coup, describing as “mercenaries” those who criticize him on this front.