The participation rate, a great unknown, was scrutinized during the constitutional referendum in Tunisia.

It reached 27.54%, or 2.46 million voters out of the 9.3 million registered, Monday, July 25, announced the Tunisian electoral commission (Isie), referring to provisional figures.

"The voters were at the rendezvous with history and went in very respectable numbers to the polling stations," assured the media the president of the Isie authority, Farouk Bouasker, stressing that some offices abroad haven't finished voting.

The director of the Sigma Conseil institute, Hassen Zargouni, estimated that "exceeding 20% ​​of voters is rather a good result".

In Tunisia, we vote less and less in recent years, "systematically below 40%", he underlined, recalling that the participation fell from 52% in the legislative elections of 2011, after the fall of the dictator Ben Ali , to 32% in 2019 (out of 7 million voters).

A majority of voters followed the call for a boycott, launched by the main parties opposed to Kaïs Saïed, who denounce a Constitution that is leading the country towards a dictatorship.

The referendum did not provide for a minimum turnout, meaning the Constitution change could go into effect despite low voter turnout.

The "yes" would win, according to an exit poll

If adopted, the controversial new fundamental law, imposed by President Kais Saied, grants vast powers to the head of state, breaking with the parliamentary system in place since 2014.

Kaïs Saïed has governed by decree since he froze the work of Parliament in July 2021, granting himself almost all the powers and promising an overhaul of the political system.

According to a poll at the exit of the polls, the "yes" to the new Constitution would win by a large majority of "92 to 93%", explains to AFP the director of the Sigma Conseil institute.

This study was carried out on Monday on a sample of more than 7,500 voters in 27 constituencies between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The first official results are expected "Tuesday afternoon", according to a spokesman for Isie, Mansri Tlili.

With AFP and Reuters

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_EN