Polling stations in the Tunisian capital are almost empty on voting day in the local elections (Al Jazeera)

Tunisia -

Opponents in Tunisia said that the low participation rate in the second round of local council elections that took place yesterday, Sunday, is a result of President Kais Saied’s monopolization of power, the atrocity of freedoms, the besieging of parties, and the persecution of opponents. Meanwhile, supporters of President Saied attributed this reluctance to the decline in voters’ confidence in going. To vote due to the failure of successive governments after the revolution to improve conditions.

The overall turnout rate for the second round of local council elections after all polling stations closed was 12.44%. The head of the Independent High Authority for Elections, Farouk Bouaskar, said in a press conference yesterday evening, Sunday, that 520,303 voters participated in the elections, out of a total of more than 4 million voters interested in participating in the second round.

The low turnout rate did not differ much from the turnout rate during the first round of local council elections, which will ultimately lead to the selection of regional and regional councils, leading to the establishment of the National Council of Regions and Regions, or what is known as the second legislative chamber.

In the second round of these elections, participation barely exceeded 11% of an electoral body of more than 9 million voters.

On a tour of some polling stations, Al Jazeera Net witnessed a state of sluggish turnout at the ballot boxes, as the centers were almost empty except for the staff of the Election Commission and some security and army agents guarding them.

Away from the polling stations, which were originally primary and secondary schools, Tunisians continued to go about their private affairs in markets and stores without paying attention to the elections.

The official spokesman for the Electoral Commission, Muhammad Al-Talili Al-Masry, denied - in a statement to Al Jazeera Net - that there was any negligence on the part of the Commission in its communication plan to urge voters to turn out for these elections. He attributed the reluctance to several reasons, including the nature of individual voting in local elections.

Tunisian opponents believe that the weak voter turnout is due to President Saied’s monopolistic approach to power (Al Jazeera)

What is the opposition's position?

Abdel Latif Al-Makki, Secretary-General of the Labor and Achievement Party and a resigned leader of the Ennahda Movement, said in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the unilateral system of government imposed by President Kais Saied with a fait accompli policy was not convincing to voters, so they refrained from the elections, and this reluctance was reinforced by the president’s failure to manage the country. Which deepened the economic, social and living crisis, according to his political analysis.

Al-Makki recalls that President Saied has been at the head of the executive authority since his election in 2019, meaning more than 4 years. He says that Saied has been ruling the country with absolute powers since he announced the exceptional measures on July 25, 2021, meaning two and a half years ago, and yet he has not achieved anything. A tangible achievement on the ground that restores the lost hope of Tunisians, as he put it.

Not only that, as the same speaker points out that one of the reasons for the low participation rate in the local council elections is the targeting of political opponents, their security and judicial prosecution, and the throwing of many of them in prisons, considering that a respectable percentage of voters boycotted the elections in response to the request of opposition parties that consider the exceptional measures that President Kais Saied declared it a "coup against the constitution."

Al-Makki believes that organizing local elections to establish the National Council of Regions and Regions, i.e. the second legislative chamber, is “a fig leaf to cover up the failure of the current governance system,” noting that this council does not have any law clarifying its tasks and powers, and that the constitution enacted by President Saeed On July 25, 2022, he concentrates power in his hands and formulates all policies.

Aversion due to exclusivity

The leader of the opposition Democratic Current Party, Hisham Al-Ajbouni, says that abstention from voting is the result of President Kais Saied’s uniqueness in writing a new constitution tailored to his needs and going on an adventure in the country alone without involving political and economic actors and civil society organizations, in addition to the decline in the climate of freedoms, targeting of opponents, and besieging the activities of opposition parties. According to his opinion.

Al-Ajbouni confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that his party was prevented, on Saturday, from holding a symposium on social funds by the security forces, even though political activities do not require prior authorization. He says, "Freedoms have deteriorated in an unprecedented way, even compared to what the situation was before the revolution." For him, the besiegement of parties that play a fundamental role in mobilizing voters has caused this reluctance.

The same speaker says that the lack of understanding by Tunisian voters, and even the candidates themselves for the local council elections, of the powers of those councils, and their failure to distinguish between them and the municipal councils, and their lack of knowledge of the relationship of the local councils to Parliament and their relationship to the governor (the governor), made there a noticeable reluctance, especially in light of the deteriorating living conditions that cast a shadow over these. The election.

Al-Ajbouni does not see any importance in the focus of the National Council of Regions and Regions, which, according to the constitution, is specialized in discussing the state budget alongside the House of People’s Representatives (Parliament) and determining the country’s development policy. He wonders, “If the members of this council will look at the budget once every year and once every 5 years... Development Plan: What will be their role in the remainder of the time?

The failure of the previous system

However, political activist Ahmed Al-Kahlawi, one of the supporters of the path of President Kais Saied, blames the decline in the turnout rate on the previous ruling system that the president removed from power, indicating that it was behind the crisis of voter confidence in going to the ballot boxes, due to the state of frustration they experienced with False promises and partisan quotas cause the deterioration of their situation.

Regardless of the percentage of participation in the elections, Al-Kahlawi confirms that the focus of the second parliamentary chamber is a necessary issue for improving the economic and development conditions in the regions, especially after President Saied’s decision to divide the country into 5 regions. He says, "President Saied did well in moving towards establishing a second parliamentary chamber, so that the issue of development would not be lost among other issues in Parliament."

He believes that the idea of ​​dividing the country into 5 regions in preparation for establishing the second parliamentary chamber will have positive effects on the economy and development by enhancing cooperation and integration between the governorates that belong to each region. He says, "Tunisians have always raised slogans demanding social justice and an end to economic marginalization, and President Saied is committed to his people, and seeks through his path to achieve their demand."

It is expected that the National Council of Regions and Regions or the Second Parliamentary Chamber will be focused no later than the first week of next April, according to what was confirmed to Al Jazeera Net by the official spokesman for the Elections Authority, Muhammad Al-Talili Al-Masry.

Source: Al Jazeera