Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. this Sunday, October 6 for the 9.7 million registered voters. The outgoing president, Kaïs Saïed, who took full power in 2021, is the clear favorite.
Tunisians began voting this Sunday, October 6 to elect their president, a vote which arouses little enthusiasm and where the outgoing head of state, Kaïs Saïed, is widely favored. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (9 a.m. in Paris) to accommodate 9.7 million registered voters. They will close at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. Paris time). Electoral authority Isie predicts preliminary results “at the latest” Wednesday. In the cradle, in 2011, of the democratic revolts of the Arab Spring, only two candidates – considered second-rate – out of 17 applicants were authorized to face Saïed.
The first is a former member of the pan-Arab left, Zouhair Maghzaoui, 59, and the second, Ayachi Zammel, a 47-year-old liberal industrialist, unknown to the general public but imprisoned upon confirmation of his candidacy at the beginning of September. In less than a month, this former MP, supported by left-wing forces and figures from the former parliamentary majority, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for suspicion of false sponsorships, in three separate proceedings. His team called on citizens to “go to the polls en masse”, urging Isia to “not to manipulate the vote of Tunisians”. Carrier of a sovereignist left project similar to the outgoing president, whom he supported until recently, Zouhair Maghzaoui denounced before the election his “balance sheet, equal to zero”.
But there is little doubt about the outcome of the vote. The President “locked the ballot” and should “win hands down”, thus estimates an expert from the International Crisis Group, Michaël Ayari. Saïed was elected in 2019 with nearly 73% of the votes (and 58% participation). This specialist in Constitutional law with the image of incorruptible then seized full powers in the summer of 2021, promising order after years of political instability. Three years later, many Tunisians criticize him for having mainly devoted his energy to settling scores with his opponents, in particular the Islamo-conservative party Ennahdha.
A “authoritarian drift” of power has been denounced since 2021 by Tunisian and foreign NGOs and the opposition. All criticize the dismantling of the checks and balances established in 2011 and the stifling of civil society with the arrest of trade unionists, activists, lawyers and political columnists. According to Human Rights Watch, “more than 170 people are currently detained for political reasons or for exercising their fundamental rights.”
