Tunisian incumbent Kais Saied set to win election, exit polls say

Landslide predicted for President who dismissed parliament and prime minister in 2021 to claim more power

Supporters of Tunisian President Kais Saied celebrate after the release of exit poll results on October 6. EPA

Tunisia's incumbent President Kais Saied is set to win the country's presidential election with 89.2 per cent support despite a low turnout, according to exit polls broadcast on national TV on Sunday.

Mr Saied is expected to win by a landslide, routing his challengers – imprisoned rival Ayachi Zammel, who was set to collect 6.9 per cent of the vote, and Zouhair Maghzaoui, with 3.9 per cent, said independent polling group Sigma Conseil.

The Tunisian electoral board, ISIE, is set to announce the official election results on Monday.

“What Tunisia is going through today is a continuation of its revolution,” Mr Saied on Sunday night told Al Wataneya at his electoral campaign headquarters.

Three years after he staged a sweeping power grab, rights groups fear re-election will further entrench his rule in the country, which became the only democracy to emerge from the Arab uprisings of 2011.

With the removal of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia prided itself on being the birthplace of the regional revolts against authoritarianism. But the North African country's path changed dramatically soon after Mr Saied's election in 2019.

“We will build [the country] in the way that the people want it and we will purge it from the corrupt and corruptors, sceptics and conspirators, and I am not exaggerating in saying so,” he said.

Mr Saied cast his vote alongside his wife in the affluent Ennasr neighbourhood, north of Tunis, in the morning.

Shortly after the exit polls were announced, hundreds of supporters took to the street celebrating his expected win. Mr Maghzaoui denied the accuracy of the exit polls and accused the state-owned national television station of trying to deceive the public and showing bias towards Mr Saied.

“Unfortunately, these exit polls results are not correct and lack accuracy, all the data we have from on the ground indicate the opposite,” he told journalists at his campaign’s headquarters. “This is an attempt to pave the way for the public opinion to accept the results that will be announced tomorrow.”

Mr Maghzaoui called on the election authority to assume its responsibility in protecting the electoral process, and the country’s security forces and military to prevent any attempts to tamper with it. “This is not just a matter of elections, it is a matter of Tunisia’s national security and the safety of its future,” he said.

The ISIE said about 9.7 million people were eligible to vote, in a country with a population of about 12.6 million. Only 27.7 per cent of voters turned out to cast their ballots, it said. More than 58 per cent were men, and 65 per cent aged between 36 and 60.

This year's turnout figure compared to 45 per cent in 2019 and is the lowest the country has recorded in a presidential vote since its 2011 uprising.