Retired professor Kais Saied elected new Tunisian president by overwhelming votes
Tunisia … News Time
In the second and final phase of the presidential elections held in Tunisia, retired professor of law Kais Saied has defeated his rival Nabil Karoui with a clear majority and has been elected the country’s new president. Earlier, Tunisian KF Radio reported on polling company Emhrod’s exit poll that presidential candidate Kais Saied received 72.53% of the vote. According to another firm Sigma Conseil Consulting’s exit poll, independent candidate Kais Saied won overwhelmingly against his rivals and secured 76.9% of the total votes cast. In the second phase of the presidential election held last month, only two candidates, who had the highest number of votes in the first round, competed between Kais Saied and media tycoon Nabil Karoui. In the second phase, registered voters in Tunisia used their voting in a larger number than in the first phase. According to the Election Commission, the voting rate was 39.2 percent as of 1430 GMT on Sunday, according to the Greenwich Standard Time. In the first phase of the presidential election, the voting rate up to 1400 GMT was 27.8 percent.
Professor Kais Saied did not spend much in his presidential campaign, but he had the support of both leftists and Islamists. He has a different view of the presidency than his rivals, and he wants Tunisia to directly experience democracy. Nabil Karoui had beaten his charitable deeds at his proprietary television station and sought the sympathy of poor voters. He appealed to the country’s business elite and secular Tunisians to support conservative viewpoint Professor Kais Saied. Nabil Karoui was arrested on charges of money laundering and tax avoidance before the first round of presidential elections in August. And he has spent almost all of his election campaign in prison. He was ordered released by a Tunisian appeals court last Wednesday. He denied the allegations leveled against him.
The European Union Observer Mission expressed regret that both the second and final round of presidential elections in Tunisia is not being allowed to run independently. He said one presidential candidate was jailed and was not provided equal opportunities while the other candidate abandoned his public relations campaign. Tunisian election commission allows Nabil Karoui to participate in the second phase of the presidential election despite a tax evasion case and said that they could contest the court decision against them. However, they have failed to gain public support because of the allegations leveled against them and voters have rejected them for real change in the country. Some young voters have demanded that they be punished for corruption.
