Tunisian electoral head urges youth to vote with turnout seeming low

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisians voted in the first round of an unpredictable presidential race on Sunday, with the electoral commission urging young people to head to the polls after a slow early turnout.

The election features some of Tunisia’s top establishment figures, but much of the attention has been on a populist media tycoon who has been in detention since last month, and on a hitherto obscure law professor.

With more than two dozen candidates on the ballot paper, no overwhelming favorite had emerged before voting began, making it the most competitive presidential election in Tunisia’s brief history of democracy.

Parties and candidates were expected to start announcing their own estimated vote counts late on Sunday, with some local media also likely to release exit polls. However, authorities are not obligated to release formal results until Tuesday.

In the upmarket Tunis suburb of La Marsa, long queues formed early at polling stations. “These are really historic moments. I got here at 7 a.m. … to give my voice to our new leader who must protect our democracy,” said Lilia Amri, 36, a bank worker.

Tunisia threw off autocratic rule eight years ago in a revolution that inspired “Arab Spring” revolts in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and Syria, but it alone has enjoyed a peaceful transition to democracy.

However, after years of economic troubles including high unemployment and inflation, many Tunisians have voiced frustration over their government’s inability to improve living standards.

“I call on young people and all Tunisians to leave homes and exercise their electoral right,” said electoral commission head Nabil Baffoun.

He said that by 3pm turnout stood only at 27.8%. In the 2014 election, turnout was higher than 50% in the presidential vote.

In the central Lafayette district of Tunis, dozens of people stood patiently queuing in the Rue de l’Inde primary school in a whitewashed stucco courtyard under sky blue wooden shutters.

Kholoud Alwi, 27, said none of the candidates had convinced her. “But I have to vote. It’s important for the country,” she said.

Heavily indebted, Tunisia’s next government, like its last, will have to navigate popular demands to relax public purse strings while foreign lenders push for spending cuts.

Many voters are disillusioned. In the poor Ettadamen district, Mouaz Chneifiya, a 42-year-old unemployed man, was sitting in a cafe and said he would not vote.

A man reads his ballot paper at a polling station during presidential election in Tunis, Tunisia, September 15, 2019. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

“Since the election we’ve been getting promises and nothing is done on the ground, so why vote? The elections will end and the promises will be dropped as soon as they get into office like in past elections,” he said.

While foreign attention, especially in Arab countries, is focused on the moderate Islamist Ennahda party candidate Abdelfattah Mourou, Tunisians have been engrossed by the fate of media magnate Nabil Karoui.

A court on Friday ruled he must stay in detention after his arrest last month on the three-year-old charges brought by a transparency watchdog, and which he denies. His supporters say he has been silenced.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, as well as two former prime ministers, a former president and Defence Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi are also standing. So too is the conservative constitutional law professor, Kais Saied, largely unknown before the election but a prominent figure in recent opinion polls.

Two of the 26 candidates have withdrawn in recent days to support a rival, though their names still appear on the ballots.

CROWDED FIELD

With so many in the race, Sunday’s vote could produce a very close outcome, with few votes separating the two candidates who make the second-round run-off, due by Oct. 13, from the others.

The election was brought forward after the death in July of the incumbent Beji Caid Essebsi.

Analysts have warned that a close outcome, with several candidates near the cut-off point to make the second round, could make appeals likely.

Tunisia’s president has direct control over foreign and defense policy while most other portfolios are handled by a prime minister chosen by parliament, for which an election will be held on October 6.

With that limited role, many candidates have emphasized their policies on security – an area in which Tunisia has improved since two jihadist attacks in 2015 killed scores of tourists, devastating the country’s tourism sector.

A pair of armed soldiers stood outside each polling station Reuters visited.

Despite economic frustrations, many voters said they were proud of Tunisia’s march to democracy.

Slideshow (18 Images)

Outside the capital, in the village of Sidi Thabet, six middle-aged men sat debating the merits of rival campaigns in a field under the shade of a gum tree, having pulled chairs over from the cafe opposite.

They each had the inky forefinger that showed they had voted, and were united in concern at the poor level of public services in a local economy based on growing olives, vegetables and fruit, though they supported different candidates.

“We all voted for different candidates but despite our differences, we are discussing it peacefully,” said Noureddine Dridi, a service manager at a company.

Reporting by Tarek Amara and Angus McDowall; additional reporting by Mohamed Argoubi; editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Raissa Kasolowsky, William Maclean

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source: reuters.com