The Tunisian elections close with a meager 11.3 percent participation

29 (EUROPA PRESS)

Only 11.3 percent of registered voters have cast their ballots in the second round of the legislative elections that are being held this Sunday in Tunis, characterized by the general apathy of the electorate and criticism from various media outlets against the impediments presented by authorities when covering the elections.

The Independent Higher Authority for Elections has provided the definitive data on participation after the closure of the polling stations in a press conference at the Tunis Palace of Conferences collected by the Mosaique FM radio station.

This data emerges after verifying the vote of 887,638 people in relation to the 7,853,447 of the total of the Tunisian electoral census.

During the day, a person in charge of the Higher Independent Authority for Elections, Faruq Buaskar, described the percentage of participation as a “respectable” figure and pointed out that the voting process is progressing smoothly and without registering significant irregularities, according to comments collected by the Mosaique FM station.

Later, the official spokesman for the Commission, Mohamed al Tlili al Mansari, indicated that the mere fact of publishing these highly disappointing percentages for the aspirations of government participation serve precisely to demonstrate the transparency exhibited by the authorities.

“The authority provides all the numbers regarding the voting processes in the second round of the legislative elections with total transparency, and without fear of giving the correct information,” he assured.

However, from the opposition, the secretary general of the Popular Republican Union, Lotfi Mraihi, has affirmed that this result of participation means that the time has come to “seek another legitimacy parallel to that of President Kais Saied.”

Some 262 candidates, including just 34 women, are running for 131 seats in an election that saw only 11.2 percent of registered voters turnout in the first round last month and amid calls for comprehensive political reform of the current system imposed by the president, Kais Saied.

Saied has promoted since July 2021 a series of measures to reform the political system of Tunisia, including a constitutional referendum, approved in the midst of the opposition boycott, which reinforces the powers of the Presidency. The opposition has denounced an authoritarian drift of the president and has demanded his resignation.

In this context, Mosaique FM has denounced that several photojournalists and journalists from multiple media outlets have seen their coverage of the elections hindered by being denied access to some polling stations.

Sabra regional radio correspondent Samia Nasri regretted that security forces prevented her from taking pictures of several polling stations in the Ain Jalloula, Waslatia and Sbeija constituencies. The journalist Siham Hamdi, from Radio Al Hayat, has also denounced impediments in these same places.

The deputy head of the Independent Higher Authority for Elections, Maher al Jedidi, has stressed in statements to the media itself that he will investigate these accusations.