- The Parliamentary elections held in Tunisia on 17 December 2022 to elect the third Assembly of the Representatives of the People Saw a record low turnout.
The Parliamentary elections held in Tunisia on 17 December 2022 to elect the third Assembly of the Representatives of the People Saw a record low turnout. According to Tunisia’s Supérieure Indépendante pour les Élections (ISIE) the turnout was just around 8.8%.
The sharp drop in voting reflects the popular sentiment against President Kais Saied’s suspension of legislature and redrawing of country’s political map. After suspending the parliament in July last year, Saied introduced a new constitution. The revised constitution drastically cut down the role of the country’s political parties, calling them as enemies of the people and blamed them for the economic distress of the country. He singled out the Ennahda movement, which has dominated the political scene since 2011 driving the regional protests against autocracy. Though he tried to drum up support opposition parties boycotted the election.
The President encouraged individuals to run as candidates in place of the traditional political parties. In the process, 1,055 self-funded candidates competed for 161 seats. With the absence of the political parties and their campaigning, voters lacked information about the election as well as the candidates.
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The initial results are expected to be announced on December 19 with final results in January. Citing the low response to the elections, the opposition parties have demanded the resignation of the President alleging that he has lost the legitimacy to continue as the President.
