Participation stood at 27.7% compared to 45% five years ago in the first round, according to the electoral authority Isie. Its president, Farouk Bouasker, deemed this rate “respectable”, although it is the lowest for a first round of presidential voting since the overthrow of dictator Ben Ali in 2011 in this country, which was the cradle of the democratic uprisings of Arab Spring.
Only Ayachi Zammel and Zouhair Maghzaoui — second knives according to experts — were authorized to face Kais Saied, 66, out of initially 17 applicants, dismissed by Isie for alleged irregularities. The opposition, whose leading figures are in prison, and Tunisian and foreign NGOs have criticized a vote “distorted in favor of Mr. Saied”.
“tainted” legitimacy
Ayachi Zammel, unknown to the general public, was unable to campaign because he has been imprisoned since the beginning of September and sentenced three times to more than 14 years in prison for suspicion of false sponsorships. Zouhair Maghzaoui was considered “a stooge” because he had a left-wing sovereignist project similar to that of Kais Saied, whom he supported until recently.
“The legitimacy of the election is necessarily tainted when the candidates who could overshadow Mr. Saied were systematically excluded,” Tunisian political analyst Hatem Nafti commented for AFP.
The candidate selection process had been highly contested for the high number of sponsorships required, the imprisonment of known potential candidates, and the ousting by Isie of the president’s strongest rivals, including Mondher Zenaidi, a former minister of Ben Ali.
For the French Maghreb expert, Pierre Vermeren, even if with such a strong abstention, “the democratic legitimacy” of the election is “weak”, “Tunisia has a president and the majority of Tunisians let it happen”. He noted analogies with neighboring Algeria, “where no one questions President” Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
After the polls were announced, around 400 of the president’s supporters came out to celebrate his victory, waving flags in front of the municipal theater in central Tunis, chanting “the people want Kais again.”
A group cheerfully sang the national anthem. Oumayma Dhouib, 25, said she was “very happy” with the victory of “Kaisoun”, an affectionate nickname. The young woman assured that she was “convinced by her ideas and her politics”, like her mother Khadija, 52, who “trusts” her.
A hardening
Kais Saied, elected in 2019 with nearly 73% of the vote (and 58% participation), was still popular when this specialist in constitutional law with the incorruptible image seized full powers in the summer of 2021, promising order in the face of political instability.
Three years later, many Tunisians criticize him for having devoted too much energy to settling scores with his opponents, in particular the Islamo-conservative Ennahdha party, dominant during the decade of democracy following the overthrow of dictator Ben Ali. According to expert Nafti, Kais Saied “lost almost 1 million votes” compared to 2019.
Since his coup in the summer of 2021, Tunisian and foreign NGOs and the opposition have denounced an “authoritarian drift” by Kais Saied, via a dismantling of checks and balances and a stifling of civil society with arrests 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.”
According to analyst Hatem Nafti, this new electoral victory may herald a further hardening of power towards critical voices because Kais Saied will be able to “enforce his coronation to justify the repression”.
Speaking on Sunday evening in his campaign headquarters, Kais Saied said, in a martial tone, that he wanted to “continue the 2011 Revolution” and build “a country cleansed of corrupt people and conspiracies”. “Tunisia will remain free and independent and will never accept foreign interference,” he added.
