The United States has said that the low turnout in Tunisia’s legislative elections reflects the need for «a more inclusive process» to «expand political participation,» amid opposition complaints about the authoritarian drift of the president, Kais Saied.
U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said Sunday’s runoff election «is another step in the important and essential process of restoring democratic checks and balances in the country.»
«We will continue to support the aspirations of the Tunisian people for a democratic and accountable government that protects human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, and preserves the space for civil society,» he said.
The second round was again marked by an abstention rate of close to 90 percent, after a turnout of less than nine percent in the first round, an all-time low worldwide.
However, the president called for a «different reading» and blamed the abstention on the fact that «over the last ten years Tunisians have seen that the Parliament has been transformed into an institution that abuses the State».
For his part, the leader of the opposition National Salvation Front, Ahmed Neyib Chebi, called on Sunday for the president to leave office after the «fiasco» of the second round of the parliamentary elections and maintained that this figure «shows that very few support Saied’s process».
Saied has pushed since July 2021 a series of measures to reform Tunisia’s political system, including a constitutional referendum, approved amid opposition boycott, which strengthens the powers of the presidency. The opposition has denounced an authoritarian drift of the president and has demanded his resignation.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
