Tunisia has been plunged into political uncertainty after it recorded the lowest electoral turnout in its recent history following President Kais Saied’s suspension of parliament and subsequent redrawing of the country’s political map.
Its main opposition alliance called on Saied to “leave immediately” as voters overwhelmingly snubbed the the legislative election in what officials at the country’s Instance Supérieure Indépendante pour les Élections (ISIE) said was a participation rate of 8.8 percent.
Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, president of Tunisia’s “Salvation Front” alliance, which boycotted the vote and has accused Saied of a coup against Tunisia’s democracy said the president had “lost all legal legitimacy”. An abstention rate of more than 91 percent “shows that very, very few Tunisians support Kais Saied’s approach,” Chebbi told Agence France-Presse.
Since suspending parliament in July of last year, Saied has introduced a new constitution, greatly reducing the prominence of the country’s political parties, who he characterised as enemies of the people. He reserved particular ire for the Ennahda movement, part of the opposition alliance, which has dominated the political scene since the country first led the wave of Arab Spring protests against autocracy in 2011.
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