Tunisia’s President Saied has been re-elected, according to post-election polls

As of: October 7th, 2024 3:56 a.m

A large majority voted for incumbent Saied in the presidential election in Tunisia. This is what post-election surveys show. He had no real competition: opposition members were imprisoned or not allowed to vote.

According to a poll, the controversial incumbent Kais Saied will win the presidential election in Tunisia. According to a post-election survey by the opinion research institute Sigma, Saied received 89.2 percent of the vote, as state television reported after the polls closed. “This is the continuation of the revolution. We will cleanse and rebuild the country of the corrupt, traitors and conspirators,” Saied told the broadcaster in an initial statement.

After the publication of the post-election polls, around 400 supporters of the president celebrated his victory in the center of the capital Tunis. They shouted: “The people want Kais again.” According to the electoral commission, voter turnout was 27.7 percent, only half as high as in the runoff election for the presidency in 2019. The official election result is expected on Monday evening.

opposing candidates had a hard time

The opposition has already questioned the results of the post-election survey. Saied, who had been ruling increasingly authoritarianly for years, basically had no real competition. Re-election was considered certain from the start. According to the post-election surveys, Saied’s only opposing candidates only achieved single-digit results in the election: the liberal industrialist Ayachi Zammel received 6.9 percent of the vote, while the former MP Zouhair Maghzaoui received 3.9 percent.

Zammel ran from prison. He has been in custody since September. Zammel is accused of falsifying supporter votes in order to be able to run in the election. Numerous other opposition members are also in prison. An electoral commission appointed by Saied also excluded three other presidential candidates from the election.

Saied built Powers more and more

The political situation in the North African country is tense. Tunisia, once the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring in 2011, has been experiencing political change under Saied since 2019. The president has continually expanded his powers. In 2021, he dissolved parliament – a move the opposition described as a coup. He then had the constitution changed in his favor. Saied rejects criticism of his course, saying he is fighting against a corrupt elite in the country.

Dunja Sadaqi, ARD Rabat, currently Tunis, tagesschau, October 7th, 2024 5:36 a.m

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