Politics

Tunisians cast ballots in second round of legislative elections

Tunis, Jan 29 (EFE).- Tunisians were voting on Sunday in the second round of parliamentary elections that is being boycotted by the opposition.

A total of 262 candidates, including only 34 women, are vying for 131 seats in the new parliament.

The vote comes almost a year after president Kais Saied dissolved the old legislature as part of a series of measures that his opponents described as a “coup.”

So far, only 4.71% of nearly 8 million eligible voters have turned up to cast their ballots at polling stations set to close at 5:00 pm in the North African nation, the birthplace of the 2010-11 Arab Spring revolutions.

“Young people do not understand what is happening, and perhaps politics does not interest them,” retiree Taher told Efe.

Farouk Bouaskar, president of the Independent High Authority for the Elections (ISIE), said in a press conference that 45% of those who voted so far are aged over 60.

The voter turnout in December 17’s first round of election reached only 11.22%, which led political blocs to call on Saied to step down.

Aziza, another Tunisian voter, is highly concerned by the rising inflation and the decreasing purchasing power.

“Everything is very expensive, I can’t buy meat or fish anymore,” she said.

“The country is not stable. If the parliament is stable, the country will be. We need an assembly, if it is good, it will stay and if it is not, the people will do what they did with the others and throw them out,” she concluded.EFE

lfp-nrm/smq/ks

Related Articles

Back to top button