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According to Farouk Bouaskar, the head of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), the voter turnout was recorded at 28.8%, with 2,808,548 votes cast from a total of 9,753,217 eligible voters.
President Kais Saied achieved a decisive victory in Tunisia’s election on Monday, solidifying his hold on power following a first term marked by the imprisonment of opponents and significant changes to the country’s institutions that expanded his authority.
According to Farouk Bouaskar, the head of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), the voter turnout was recorded at 28.8%, with 2,808,548 votes cast from a total of 9,753,217 eligible voters.
The authority also stated that Saied received 90.7% of the votes, just one day after exit polls suggested he had a considerable lead in the North African country, known as the origin of the Arab Spring more than a decade ago.
Businessman Ayachi Zammel, the nearest competitor, garnered 7.4% of the vote despite spending most of the campaign in prison due to various sentences for election-related offenses.
However, Saied’s victory was overshadowed by a disappointing voter turnout. Election officials indicated that only 28.8% of eligible voters participated on October 6, a stark decline compared to the first rounds of the country’s previous two elections following the Arab Spring, reflecting widespread apathy among the 9.7 million eligible voters.
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Saied’s main rivals, who have been imprisoned since last year, were barred from participating, while lesser-known candidates faced imprisonment or exclusion from the ballot.
