What awaits the Tunisians after the legislative elections in light of the political and social crisis?

Tunisia -

The legislative elections in Tunisia ended a few days ago with the weakest participation after the revolution. Of the total number of about 9 million and 100 thousand voters, only about 11% participated - according to the elections authority's data.

This percentage was commented upon by opponents as a sign of failure in the course of President Kais Saied, who prepared for these elections, starting with drafting a new constitution, and then amending the election law.

However, the president replied to his opponents that it is not possible to judge the participation rate from the first round, given that 95 constituencies will be re-elected because no candidate won a majority.

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"Saying that the low participation rate will affect the confidence of Tunisians in the next parliament is false," according to Ibrahim Bouderbala, former dean of lawyers and one of the candidates for parliament.

Bouderbala told Al-Jazeera Net that despite the low participation rate, "the elections were fair compared to what happened in the past decade after the revolution, when corrupt money played a dirty role to buy voters' debts."

He stresses that the next stage is a major turning point for Tunisians after the installation of parliament and the completion of the political track after June 25, 2021, the date of the president's announcement of his exceptional measures.

He also says that the country will witness a political breakthrough during the first quarter of next year with the formation of parliament, pending the election of the Council of Regions and Regions, which the president created with his new constitution.

Bouderbala adds that the next legislative authority will focus directly - after the installation of parliament - on monitoring government work, and enacting legislation that will revive the economy and improve conditions.

Regarding his opinion of the state of frustration among Tunisians in light of the difficult conditions, Bouderbala says that this situation "was exacerbated alarmingly due to the mismanagement of the country in the past decade, but what is to come is better."

Imminent explosion

However, Shaima Issa, a leader in the Salvation Front - boycotting the elections - has another opinion, as she believes that Tunisia is "on the verge of an imminent social explosion, and a continuous escalation of opposition against the president's path."

She tells Al-Jazeera Net that the Tunisians "renounced" the president's project by boycotting the elections, and that "the opposition will not allow a second round of elections to waste public money in exchange for a sabotaging project."

It is expected that the Elections Authority will organize a second round in the coming weeks between the candidates who received the highest votes in 95 constituencies, in addition to 7 constituencies abroad in which no one ran.

However, Shaima says that the country is "on the verge of catastrophic conditions as a result of the absence of planning, and the absence of any vision to mobilize financial resources, with the International Monetary Fund's reluctance to grant Tunisia the first installment of a new loan."

The IMF had agreed to grant Tunisia a loan of $1.9 billion over 4 years, but the fund withdrew Tunisia from its agenda for this year, which was considered ambiguous in the disbursement of the loan.

And the leadership of the Salvation Front confirms that the living conditions "will get harsher in light of President Saeed's only listening to himself," stressing that "his flight forward despite losing his popularity will lead the country to a state of collapse."

Weak parliament

From the point of view of the head of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, Abd al-Rahman al-Hudhaili, the situation in the coming period after the elections "will not be calm due to the social crisis."

Al-Hudhaili assures Al-Jazeera Net that the next parliament "will not be a real legislative authority due to the president's pervasiveness in the presidential system that he established in his constitution," ruling out that parliament would play any role.

He added, "The next parliament will be out of space and time, without powers, will lack competencies, and will not be able to improve conditions," expecting that the protests will increase with the continued suffering of Tunisians.

Social protests will be one of the natural results during the next stage in the event that the living crisis becomes more difficult, according to political analyst Salah al-Din al-Jurashi.

Al-Jourshi told Al-Jazeera Net that the Tunisians have become "skeptical of the path of July 25, 2021, as a result of the worsening situation," and therefore their relationship with the institutions surrounding them and Parliament will remain "based on suspicion."

He believes that the Tunisians' lack of voting proves that they are not interested in electing Parliament, considering that their absolute priority now is to free them from the trap of deteriorating living conditions.

The problem that arises after getting out of this impasse is that an important part of Tunisians no longer believe that democracy is the solution as a mode of governance or a way of life, and this is a challenge posed to democrats.