Tunisian president plays down record low turnout in elections

Tunisian president Kais Saied played down the record low turnout in the second round of Tunisian parliamentary elections last Sunday.

At nearly 90%, it was the highest level of abstention since the 2011 revolution that toppled dictator Ben Ali and marked the advent of democracy in the country.

"The turnout has not been announced definitively, but it has to be interpreted in a different way. Ninety percent did not vote because the parliament does not represent anything for them", said President of Tunisia Kais Saied.

According to experts, the low turnout is due to the unanimous boycott of the elections by the opposition parties, but also by a lack of interest in politics by a population focused on the deteriorating economic conditions with galloping inflation and recurrent shortages of basic goods.

The legislative elections of December 17th and January 29th are one of the last stones that President Kais Saied wanted to lay in the construction of an ultra presidential system similar to the one before the fall of dictator Ben Ali.