The official turnout for the parliamentary elections in Tunisia was 11.22% on Monday, which is very slightly higher than the preliminary figure of 8.8% that was made public after the polls closed on Saturday.
At a news conference in Tunis, Farouk Bouasker, the president of the electoral authority Isie, reported the final turnout.
This turnout is the lowest since the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship in 2011, despite upward revisions (nearly 70% in the October 2014 legislative), and it is three times lower than for the constitutional referendum last summer (30.5%), which was already characterised by a high abstention rate. Out of little over 9 million registered voters, 1.025 million cast ballots, according to Bouasker.
Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, the leader of the largest opposition alliance in Tunisia, urged President Kais Saied to “go immediately” following the disaster that was the opposition’s massive boycott of the legislative elections.
After his July 25, 2021 coup de force and the dissolution of the previous Parliament, which the opposition dubbed a “coup d’état,” President Saied oversaw the adoption of a constitution this summer that significantly curtails the powers of Parliament.
The new Assembly of MPs will not be able to oust the president and it will be almost impossible for it to criticize the government. The president will be given preference in getting his laws passed, and it will require ten deputies to propose a law.
