Tunisia’s Kais Saied re-elected as President in landslide win

Incumbent received more than 90% of votes from Sunday's election

Tunisian President Kais Saied joins supporters in Tunis after the announcement of provisional election results, on October 6. AFP

Tunisian President Kais Saied has been elected for a second five-year term after receiving more than 90 per cent of the October 6 votes, the Independent High Authority for Elections announced on Monday.

Mr Saied won 90.69 per cent of the votes, while Zouheir Maghzaoui of the pan-Arab nationalist People’s Movement party received 1.97 per cent and jailed politician Ayachi Zammel received 7.35 per cent, ISIE president Farouk Bouasker said.

Only 28.8 per cent of more than nine million of Tunisia’s eligible registered voters cast their ballots in Sunday’s vote. Of those, only 6 per cent were aged between 18 and 35.

Mr Saied, a constitutional law professor who has been considered a political outsider, was initially elected President in 2019. Since July 2021, he has ruled the country by presidential decrees after dissolving the parliament and the High Judicial Council, and firing the government.

After the official announcement of his re-election on Monday, Mr Saied said in a meeting with Interior Minister Kamel Maddouri that all officials “need to double their efforts and move in maximum speed to meet the needs of citizens".

“Bearing in mind the people's great expectations … it is necessary to work to achieve these goals and to restore the state’s social role,” a statement from Mr Saied said on the official presidency Facebook page.

He also stressed the necessity of overcoming all obstacles and reviewing laws with a new mindset and unwavering determination, noting that “the Tunisian people have demonstrated a deep awareness of the peculiar nature of this phase".

Meanwhile, Tunisia's electoral commission threatened in a statement issued on Monday after the announcement of the results that any accusations made against it regarding claims of falsifying or manipulating election results, whether explicitly or implicitly, will be legally examined and referred to prosecutors.

The commission added that those behind such claims will face repercussions of what would be regarded as the deliberate defamation of an official without providing evidence.