Tunisia is heading for a second round of elections for the Parliament’s House of Representatives, as Saturday’s vote gave no conclusive result, the Independent High Authority for Elections said on Monday.
Only 11.22% of Tunisia’s more than nine million registered voters voted in Saturday’s elections, said Farouk Bouasker, president of the authority.
Preliminary results from the polls indicate that 113 out of 161 constituencies will require a second round of elections with only 21 candidates having confirmed seats in the new house.
some of the winners won an outright majority while others went unopposed.
Tunisia’s electoral body also said it decided to fully or partially cancel some candidates’ votes over electoral crimes that were considered to have affected the final results.
Opposition groups called for President Kais Saied and the electoral body to resign after the low turnout.
They had called for a boycott of the election, accusing Mr Saied of seeking to consolidate power after he suspended parliament in July last year then dissolved it in March.
Mr Saied has not made any public statements on the election. But the authority, members of which were selected by him, said last week’s turnout was marred by the perception of previous “corrupt and manipulated” polls.
Elections for the National Council of Regions and Districts, a second chamber of Parliament established under the new constitution, have not yet been scheduled.
Tunisia’s economy continues to struggle in the post-2011 era, with a 9.8 per cent inflation rate and increasing unemployment.
Difficult living conditions, including shortages of essential items and high unemployment, have created a sense of increasing apathy towards politics among Tunisians.
Many blame the political elite that has ruled them for the past decade, including Mr Saied.
