The low turnout in the second round of local council elections in Tunisia on Sunday has been attributed by opposition members to President Kais Saied’s singular authority, curtailment of freedoms, and crackdown on opposition parties and dissenters. Supporters of President Saied, on the other hand, attribute the low voter participation to a lack of confidence in the ability of successive governments following the revolution to improve conditions.
The overall voter turnout for the second round of local council elections stood at 12.44% after all polling stations had closed. Farouk Bouasker, the head of the Independent Higher Authority for Elections, announced in a press conference yesterday that 520,303 voters participated in the elections out of over 4 million eligible voters in the second round.
The low participation did not significantly differ from the turnout in the first round of local council elections, which ultimately leads to the selection of regional and district councils, culminating in the establishment of the National Council for Regions and Districts, also known as the second legislative chamber.
During the second round of these elections, voter participation barely exceeded 11% of an electorate exceeding 9 million voters. Observers noted a lack of enthusiasm at some polling stations, with the centers nearly empty except for election officials, security personnel, and military personnel guarding them.
Apart from polling stations, which are usually elementary and high schools, Tunisians were more focused on their private affairs in the markets and shops, paying little attention to the elections.
The official spokesperson for the Electoral Commission, Mohamed Tlili Mansri, denied any shortcomings in the commission’s communication plan to encourage voter turnout in these elections. He attributed the low turnout to several reasons, including the nature of individual voting in local elections.
Tunisian opposition members see the low voter turnout as a result of President Saied’s singular approach to power (Al Jazeera)
Opposition’s Stand
Abdellatif Al-Makki, the Secretary-General of the Labor and Achievement Party and a former leader of the Ennahda Movement, believes that President Kais Saied’s monopolistic governance imposed through the policy of fait accompli is unconvincing to voters, leading to their withdrawal from the elections. According to his political analysis, this disengagement has been exacerbated by the President’s failure to effectively manage the country, deepening the economic, social, and living crisis.
Al-Makki points out that President Saied has been at the helm of the executive authority since his election in 2019, that is, for over 4 years, and has been governing the country with absolute powers since declaring exceptional measures on July 25, 2021, for more than two and a half years. However, he has not achieved any tangible accomplishments that could restore lost hope to Tunisians.
Furthermore, the same spokesperson points out that one reason for the low voter turnout in local council elections is the targeting and pursuit of political opponents, as well as the incarceration of many of them, considering that a respectable percentage of voters abstained from the elections in response to the demand of opposition parties that consider the exceptional measures announced by President Kais Saied to be “a coup against the constitution.”
Al-Makki believes that the organization of local elections to establish the National Council for Regions and Districts, also known as the second legislative chamber, is merely a “smokescreen” to cover up the failure of the current governance system.
The Apathy Due to Monopolization
Hisham Al-Ajbouri, a member of the opposition Democratic Current Party, asserts that the apathy towards voting is the outcome of President Kais Saied’s monopolization of drafting a new constitution to fit his agenda and embarking on a solitary adventure without involving political and economic actors and civil society organizations. He also attributes the indifference to the decline in freedoms and the targeting of opponents, as well as the encirclement of the activities of opposition parties. According to him, his party was prohibited from holding a seminar on social funds by security forces on Saturday, despite the fact that political activities do not require prior authorization. He further states that “freedoms have deteriorated unprecedentedly compared to the situation before the revolution.” The marginalization of parties that play a fundamental role in mobilizing voters, according to him, has contributed to this disengagement.
The same speaker believes that the failure to understand the local council elections and their powers, as well as the lack of distinction between them and municipal councils, coupled with the voters’ lack of awareness of the relationship between local councils and parliament and their relationship with the governor (vali), has led to noticeable disengagement, especially in light of the deterioration of living conditions that has cast a shadow on these elections.
Al-Ajbouri sees no importance in concentrating the National Council for Regions and Districts, which, according to the constitution, is responsible for discussing the state budget alongside the Parliament and determining the country’s development policy. He questions, “If the members of this council will look at the budget every year and the development plan every 5 years, what will their role be for the remaining time?”
Failure of the Previous System
However, political activist Ahmed Al-Kahlawi, a supporter of President Kais Saied’s path, blames the retreat in the voter turnout on the previous governance system that the President removed from power, indicating that it led to a crisis of confidence in going to the polls due to the frustration emanating from false promises and party quotas that resulted in their deterioration. Regardless of the turnout rate in the elections, Al-Kahlawi emphasizes that the concentration of the second parliamentary chamber is crucial to rejuvenating the economic and developmental situation in the regions, especially after the president’s decision to divide the country into 5 regions.
It’s expected that the formation of the National Council for Regions and Districts or the second parliamentary chamber will take place no later than the first week of April, according to the official spokesperson for the Electoral Commission, Mohamed Tlili Mansri.
