There was no suspense in the presidential elections that were held on Sunday, October 6 in Tunisia. In this well-regulated division, national television broadcast at the beginning of the afternoon an exit poll announcing the re-election of the outgoing president, Kaïs Saïed, with 89.2% of the votes. The only two candidates selected against him by the Independent High Electoral Authority (ISIE), the former deputy and leader of the pan-Arab People’s Movement party Zouhair Maghzaoui, a former supporter of Mr. Saïed and leader of a small liberal party, Ayachi Zammel, arrested beginning of September and sentenced on 1Ahem October, to twelve years in prison for “sponsorship falsification”it would have obtained only 6.9% and 3.9% respectively, according to figures from the Sigma institute.
While the provisional results must be announced by the ISIE before Wednesday, October 9 and the final results by November 9 at the latest, the plebiscite announced by Saïed was immediately rejected by Ayachi Zammel. On his Facebook page, the imprisoned opponent denounced the publication of surveys “in violation of the texts of the law, in order to guide public opinion”. Zouhair Maghzaoui called him “Security forces to protect the process” electoral after the first results “mistaken”.
The final participation rate, data expected by observers, amounted to 27.7% – or 2.7 million voters – the ISIE indicated during a press conference. A score significantly higher than that of the last elections (11.3% during the second round of the 2022 legislative elections), but well below the first round of the 2019 presidential elections, where 49% of voters turned out to the polls.
“We realized that he was becoming an autocrat”
Election day took place peacefully. At noon, at several polling stations in central Tunisia, voters, mostly elderly, took turns casting their votes. The outgoing president’s supporters were the most numerous to openly express their choice. “He is trying to change things for the citizens. At least with him we have hope that the problems that have occurred in the country since the revolution [de 2011] find a solution »considers Chourouk Abdallah, 30 years old, a specialized educator and firm supporter of the Head of State, who came to carry out his task “ national duty.”
The opponents, on the other hand, were more discreet. In La Marsa, on the outskirts of the capital, Seif, a real name, 27 years old, a master’s student, explains that he came “exercise [son] right to vote » For “Let’s not let Kaïs Saïed decide for us”. However, in 2019 he supported this professor of constitutional law, without partisan ties that seemed to him “ the alternative to Ennahda”, the Islamo-conservative party that has participated in all coalition governments since 2011, AND “to the corrupt.” Mr. Saïed was then elected in the second round with 73% of the votes. But since the president assumed full powers in July 2021, “ “We realized that he was becoming an autocrat.”.
Seif is one of the few young people we met who went to the polls. Of the 2.7 million votes counted, only 6% came from people under 35 years of age, according to the ISIE. Many of his friends, also opposed to the outgoing president, decided to abstain, considering the electoral process. “illegitimate”. Since the announcement of the election date on July 2, numerous controversies have erupted. Although the administrative court ruled in favor of the reinstatement of three candidates previously excluded by the ISIE, the electoral body ignored justice. Despite criticism from the opposition and civil society organizations, Parliament amended the electoral law on September 27, removing the administrative court’s jurisdiction to resolve electoral disputes and making the Tunisian Court of Appeal the sole authority. to resolve these disputes.
Since his “strength” In July 2021, Kaïs Saïed progressively dismantled some of the democratic structures of the State established after the revolution of January 2011. He modified in particular the structure of the Higher Council of the Judiciary, which supervises the judiciary but also that of the electoral body. , of which he directly appoints certain members. The latter denied accreditation to two of the main local election observation associations, I Watch and Mourakiboun, due to accusations of “suspicious foreign financing (…) from countries with which Tunisia does not maintain diplomatic relations.
For the first time since 2011, European Union observers were not allowed to follow the vote. Only representatives of the Russian electoral commission, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and some other organizations accredited by the authorities were present in some offices. The Tunisian Association for Election Integrity and Democracy, one of them, declared on Sunday afternoon, according to the official Tunisian news agency TAP, “they have recorded a certain number of irregularities and embezzlements of varying degrees”in particular “orientations towards voters or attempts by citizens to influence them”.
