The “yes” to the new Constitution in Tunisia won by a large majority of “92 to 93%,” said the director of the Sigma Conseil institute on Monday, based on a poll at the exit of the polls. At least 2.46 million voters, or 27.54% of the 9.3 million registered voters, voted on Monday for a new constitution proposed by Tunisian President Kais Saied, the electoral authority announced at night, referring to figures provisional.
This controversial new fundamental law, imposed by President Saied, grants wide powers to the Head of State, breaking with the parliamentary system in place since 2014. Hassen Zargouni estimated that “exceeding 20% of the voters is a pretty good result”.
In Tunisia we have voted less and less in recent years, “systematically below 40%”, he stressed, recalling that turnout fell from 52% in the 2011 legislative elections, after the fall of dictator Ben Ali, to 32% in 2019. (of 7 million voters)
The fear of a return of the dictatorship
Tunisia is mired in a deep economic crisis, characterized by high unemployment and a sharp drop in purchasing power in the last 10 years.
Those who voted “yes” had as their main motivation “to get the country back on track and improve the situation,” according to Sigma Conseil. It is “rather a female electorate, adult or even senior, from Greater Tunisia, the Sahel (Sousse, Monastir) and the Northwest,” according to Hassen Zargouni. It is “the modernist part of the country”, the “nationalists”, sometimes nostalgic for the Ben Ali era.
The second category includes “the fan club, those who support Kais Saied’s project or his person,” according to Hassen Zargouni. We find them “in the conservative south, towards Sfax, in the other Tunisia, which sees him as an intractable and severe leader”. According to Sigma Conseil, he is for many “young people from 18 to 25 years old”.
Voters who voted “no” did so, according to Sigma Conseil, mostly “out of fear of a return to dictatorship and absolute power.”
This study was carried out this Monday on a sample of more than 7,500 voters in 27 constituencies between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. The first official results are expected “Tuesday afternoon”, according to an Isie spokesman, Mansri Tlili.
Source: BFM TV
