Tunis, Tunisia – President Kais Saied was re-elected on Monday with an overwhelming 90.7 percent of the vote, according to Tunisia’s electoral authority (ISIE), securing a landslide victory in Sunday’s election. His closest competitors, Ayachi Zemmal and Zouhair Maghzaoui, garnered 7.3 percent and 1.9 percent of the vote, respectively. Despite Saied’s victory, voter turnout was the lowest since the 2011 revolution, with only 28.8 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots.
Saied’s re-election comes three years after his controversial power grab, which has raised concerns about the future of democracy in Tunisia. Rights groups fear that his continued rule will further entrench authoritarianism in the country, which once stood as the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings. Tunisia had been a symbol of hope after the 2011 ouster of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Political commentators, like Hatem Nafti, argue that the legitimacy of the election is questionable due to the exclusion of potential challengers. ISIE had barred 14 candidates from running, citing technicalities such as insufficient endorsements. Nafti, an expert on Tunisia’s political landscape, suggested that these exclusions had skewed the race in Saied’s favor.
According to the electoral authority, the majority of voters were men (58 percent), and most were aged between 36 and 60. Saied’s supporters see his victory as a mandate to continue his reforms, but critics remain deeply concerned about the future of Tunisia’s political system and its democratic values.