Tunisians have begun celebrating a win for the “Yes” vote in a constitutional referendum brought by President Kais Saied, despite the election authority saying the turnout was low.
According to Sigma Conseil, a Tunisian polling company,92.3 percent of voters had backed the new constitution, which opponents say will entrench one-man rule.
Only 7.7 percent voted “No”. Out of some nine million registered voters, just 1.9 million people came out to vote, with the opposition mainly choosing to boycott the vote.
A couple of hundred people crowded onto the steps of Tunis Municipal Theatre to sing and chant popular slogans while cars circled Avenue Habib Bourguiba, which saw the final chapter of the 2011 uprising that overthrew the authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and began the Arab Spring.
A few hours later, they were joined by Saied himself, who gave speeches and answered questions from the local and international press.
Saied addressed his supporters in central Tunis in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a walkabout and appeared sure that his constitution had been approved, referring to the referendum day as “a historic moment”.
Saied’s supporters are expecting radical change, if not miraculous solutions, to the economic strife that has fuelled demonstrations and strikes in Tunisia.
Sharan Grewal, assistant professor at the University College of William and Mary in Virginia and a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Al Jazeera the opposition could make a political profit from the low voter turnout.
BY ALJAZEERA