President Kais Saied secured a decisive victory in Tunisia’s election on Monday, consolidating his hold on power after a term marked by the imprisonment of opponents and institutional reforms expanding his authority.
Farouk Bouaskar, head of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), announced a turnout of 28.8%, with 2.8 million votes cast from 9.7 million eligible voters. Saied garnered 90.7% of the vote, while his closest rival, Ayachi Zammel, received 7.4%, despite being imprisoned during the campaign for election-related offenses.
The low voter turnout overshadowed Saied’s victory, reflecting growing public apathy. Only 28.8% of voters participated, a sharp decline from previous elections following the Arab Spring. Many of Saied’s main rivals, imprisoned since last year, were barred from running, while opposition parties boycotted the election, calling it a farce amid Tunisia’s deepening political crisis and increasing authoritarianism.
Critics claim Saied will return to office weakened by the elections. Some, like filmmaker Amri Sofien, fear the country’s future, drawing grim parallels to Tunisia’s pre-revolution era.
Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, initially embraced democracy with a new constitution and efforts to address past injustices. However, economic struggles and political infighting eroded public trust. Saied rose to power in 2019, promising to tackle corruption, but his 2021 power grab—dissolving parliament and revising the constitution—was labeled a coup by critics. Subsequent crackdowns on political adversaries and civil society heightened fears of Tunisia slipping into authoritarianism.
