Tunisia’s most powerful trade union, UGTT, has warned the country’s president saying that chaos could follow if the second round of parliamentary elections is not postponed, reported The Africa News.
On Thursday, the union said in a statement that the new parliament has no legitimacy following a record low turnout in last week’s election, estimated at 11.2% out of 9.2 million people eligible to vote. The first round of parliamentary elections was held on Saturday. The rejection of the election by the Tunisians has led to further calls from the opposition for President Kais Saied to resign.
President Saied had suspended an opposition-dominated parliament in July 2021 and has since then, changed the constitution in order to weaken parliament making it less powerful than the president. He also altered the election process, abandoned a party list system, and banned candidates from getting funding from any political party.
“I was expecting that after low turnout, the president would say that he received the message and admit that the path was wrong … but he is going ahead with his plan,” Noureddine Taboubi, the head of Tunisia’s UGTT, said.
Taboubi said it is a wise decision to postpone the second round of voting in order to avoid any kind of chaos.
The elections were boycotted by major political parties, including the Ennahda movement, Heart of Tunisia Part and the Movement Party. The opposition, who boycotted the elections, has described Saied’s actions as a coup.
According to Saied, the voting turnout should be judged only after the second round of voting. Earlier this week, Tunisia’s electoral commission said runoffs will be held in most Tunisian regions in February after only 21 candidates secured victory. Although, the electoral body did not specify a date for the vote.
Under Tunisia’s new constitution approved by the July referendum, the country’s new parliament will boast very limited powers.
