Tunisian presidential election polls come as President Kais Saied seeks a second term, with his most prominent critics jailed and his main rival suddenly jailed last month has ended.
Observers see the election, which Saied is expected to win, as the final chapter in Tunisia's democratic experiment.
Official results will not be announced until Monday night, but an exit poll by polling agency Sigma showed Mr Said in the lead with 89.2% of the vote, state television showed. Mr Said's opponents rejected the poll, saying the outcome would be different. According to the Election Commission, the turnout was 27.7%.
The North African country prided itself for a decade as the birthplace of the pro-democracy movement after the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings against dictatorships. It was hailed as introducing a flawed but competitive democracy after decades of authoritarian rule.
Observers and rights groups now say Saied, 66, who has been president since 2019, has undermined many of Tunisia's democratic gains while removing institutional and legal checks on his power. claims. In 2021, he dissolved the elected parliament and rewrote the constitution to seize most power, a move the opposition called a coup.
There were no election rallies or public debates before voting day, and almost all the election posters on the streets belonged to Saied. Leaders of the largest political parties, which mainly oppose Mr Said, have been jailed over the past year on various charges, and these parties have not publicly supported any of the three candidates in Sunday's vote. Other opponents were prohibited from running.
Said, who has said he will fight corrupt elites and traitors and not become a dictator, is facing two rivals. The first is Zuhair Magzaoui, leader of the Chaab Party, a former ally turned critic. The second man, Ayachi Zamel, a businessman, was seen as a major threat to Mr Said until he was jailed last month. Zamel currently faces more than 14 years in prison for forging endorsement signatures to run for office.
There is little hope for change in a country mired in economic crisis, and many voters are in a mood of resignation. “We have nothing to do with politics,” Mohamed, 22, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals, told Agence France-Presse in the capital. He said he and his friends had no intention of voting because they believed voting was “wasted.”
“This scene is shameful,” Wael, a Tunisian banker, told Reuters. journalists and dissidents in prison (including one presidential candidate); But I vote for change. ”
Political tensions have been high since the electoral commission appointed by Mr Said disqualified three leading candidates last month amid protests from opposition parties and civil society groups. Lawmakers loyal to Mr Said then approved a law last week stripping administrative courts of their powers over election disputes. The court is widely seen as the country's last independent judiciary after Mr Said dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council and dismissed dozens of judges in 2022.
Mr Said last year said the arrival of thousands of illegal migrants from sub-Saharan African countries was a “conspiracy to change the country's demographics” and accused what the African Union called “hate speech” against Tunisian migrants. This gave rise to criticism. In Tunisia, black immigrants have been physically attacked, evicted, and their homes searched.
As the crackdown on the opposition intensifies, many people who have criticized Mr. Said, regardless of their political stance, have been imprisoned, leading to growing voices of condemnation at home and abroad. “More than 170 people have been detained in Tunisia for political reasons or for exercising fundamental rights,” New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Opposition figures jailed include Rached Ghannouchi, 83, Tunisia's moderate Islamist leader and founder of the Annada party that dominated post-revolution politics. Ghannushi, a former parliament speaker, is Saied's most prominent critic.
Tunisia's electoral commission said some 9.7 million people were expected to vote on Sunday, but with Mr. Saied's victory almost certain and Tunisia's deepening predicament, the number of voters expected to decline. There is little desire to increase.
The International Crisis Group think tank said Friday that “the president's nationalist rhetoric and economic hardship” are “eroding any enthusiasm the public may have felt for the election.” “Many fear that Mr Said's new mandate will only deepen the country's socio-economic woes and accelerate the regime's authoritarian tendencies,” the newspaper said.
Hundreds of people protested in the capital on Friday, along the heavily guarded Habib Bourguiba Street as some demonstrators held placards denouncing Said as a “pharaoh manipulating the law”. Marched.
In his speech on Thursday, Mr. Said called for a “massive vote” and ushered in what he called an era of “reconstruction.” He cited a “protracted war with conspiratorial forces linked to foreign powers” and accused foreign powers of “infiltrating many public services and sabotaging hundreds of projects” during his time in office.
“Saeed is the first president who fought against corrupt politicians and powerful businessmen, so we will elect him and renew our support for him,” fruit seller Salem Rahmar told Reuters. spoke.
The International Crisis Group said Mr. Said had the support of working-class people suffering from the economic crisis, but was criticized for failing to solve the country's serious economic problems.
European countries concerned about migration are offering financial aid to Tunisia, which has replaced Libya as the main departure point for Europe for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East, many traveling by boat. went. However, despite increasing tourism revenues, Tunisia's state finances appear to remain extremely tight. Periodic shortages of subsidized items, power outages, and water outages continue.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
