TUNIS (Reuters) – Voting operations began on Saturday in Tunisia for the election of a new parliament deprived of virtually all power, the latest stage in the transformation of the country into an ultra-presidential regime under the leadership of Kais Saied.
Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. and will close at 6:00 p.m. (07:00 GMT-1700 GMT).
The turnout was low. Only some 270,000 voters out of nine million, or 3%, had voted by 10 a.m. (0900 GMT), according to the national electoral commission. Polling stations were almost deserted.
A total of 1,058 candidates – including 120 women – are running for 161 seats.
The Tunisian opposition, which calls for a boycott of the poll, denounces the authoritarian drift of Kaïs Saïed, who had suspended the previous Parliament last year and who had a new Constitution adopted this summer ratifying the quasi-full powers of the head of the State.
Ironically, the elections are held on the anniversary of the immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor whose death led to the uprising of the country until the fall of the autocratic regime of President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali , the starting point of the “Arab Springs” in 2011.
Twelve years later, Tunisia is, according to the critics of Kaïs Saïed, in the process of definitively closing the parenthesis of a democratic transition to which it was for a decade the only one of the Arab countries concerned to hang on, even in a chaotic way. , while the army soon regained power in Egypt and Libya, Syria and Yemen descended into civil war.
Tired of political instability, hit hard by the economic crisis and inflation, most Tunisians do not seem interested in the ballot, having already shunned the ballot box during the constitutional referendum this summer.
“They have made our lives hell … Our wildest dream is to find a bottle of milk for our children,” Mohamed Salmi, a construction worker, who does not have the intention to vote.
Kaïs Saïed, a former law professor elected in 2019 on an independent label, presents the ballot as an important step in his project to end chaos and corruption in the country.
The head of state, who has governed by decree since he suspended the former Parliament in the summer of 2021, has alienated all the opposition, from Ennahda Islamists to destourians partly from the country. former party of Ben Ali.
Ahmed Néjib Chebbi, who took the lead of a coalition formed by opponents, including Ennahda, described the elections he is going to boycott as a “farce” and considered that the result would have no consequences on the political life of the country. , with the President now having sole power to appoint the Prime Minister.
Kaïs Saïed’s authoritarianism is arousing more and more resistance in Tunisia, including from the main trade union federation, the UGTT, which initially supported some of his initiatives but strongly criticized him when he approached. elections.
The situation could become even more complicated for the Head of State if the government undertakes the unpopular reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release a loan of 1.9 billion dollars which would help Tunisia overcome the economic crisis.
(Written by Tom Perry, French version Tangi Salaün, edited by Sophie Louet)