In the context of political and economic crisis
The vote for the second round of the early legislative elections started on Sunday in Tunisia, in a context of political and economic crisis.
To this end, some 7.850 million voters are entitled to vote from 8 a.m. (7 a.m. UTC) until 6 p.m. (5 p.m. UTC) to choose 131 deputies from among the 161 seats available in the Assembly of People’s Representatives (Parliament).
The Independent Higher Authority for Elections (Isie) has equipped 4,222 polling centers with 10,012 polling stations for this purpose.
The president of Isie, Farouk Bouasker, said during a press briefing held in mid-January that the preliminary results of this second round will be announced no later than February 1, while the final results will be known after the deadlines for electoral disputes, i.e. next March 4 at the most.
The first round of this election took place on 17th December last, allowing 23 elected officials (20 men and 3 women) to win a seat in parliament, among 154 possible seats, while 7 constituencies abroad remained without candidates and partial elections will be organized soon to fill the vacant positions.
The turnout during the first round did not exceed 11.22% of registered voters, which was considered by some political parties as an “acknowledgment of failure” of the exceptional measures taken by President Kais Saïed, calling for an early presidential election.
Saïed indicated, in reaction, that this rate is better than the high percentages which he described as “fraudulent”.
Tunisia is suffering from an increasingly serious economic crisis due to the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine which has been unleashed since February 2022, factors that are added to a political crisis, the effects of which continue to grow. amplified since July 25, 2021, the date on which President Saïed decided to take exceptional measures, including the dissolution of the pearl and the judicial council, the dismissal of the government, and legislation through decree-laws.
Some Tunisian parties consider that these measures consecrate an autocratic regime, while some believe that it is a “readjustment of the revolutionary process” allowing to save the country from certain collapse.
Kais Saied, whose mandate began in 2019 for a period of five years, claimed that his measures were a “legal obligation” to save the country.
The political parties that have rejected these measures will not be represented in the next parliament, since they had boycotted these elections considering them “illegal”.
