Politics Preliminary results: Tunisia's President Saied re-elected

In the presidential election in Tunisia, the incumbent Kais Saied has been confirmed as head of state for a further five years, as expected, according to preliminary results. Saied received a good 90 percent of the votes cast, according to the electoral authority ISIE. The two opposing candidates, one of whom is in prison, lagged far behind Saied and received only 7.4 and just under 2 percent of the vote.

It had already become clear on Sunday evening after the polls closed that Saied would win by a clear margin. Surrounded by hundreds of supporters, the president promised to rid Tunisia of corruption and "conspirators". Saied is particularly popular with low-income earners. However, voter turnout was relatively low at just under 29 percent - an expression of the dissatisfaction of many Tunisians who have lost confidence in politics.

After the mass protests of 2011, which brought down long-term ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia was considered the only country in the region to have made a gradual transition to democracy. Saied's course has dampened these hopes in recent years. Now the opposition, human rights activists and observers in the small Mediterranean country fear that the 66-year-old is likely to consolidate his power even further.

"The election has served to further expose Saied's nervousness, lack of confidence in his own popularity, intolerance of any criticism and complete disregard for the rule of law," wrote Yusra Ghannouchi, daughter of the currently imprisoned leader of the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, Rached Ghannouchi. The election has lost "every shred of credibility", she wrote in an article on the news site "Middle East Eye".

SDA