Tunisia: Young voters shrug off Presidential election, dream of leaving

On presidential election day, young Tunisians are shrugging off the polls, voicing their disillusionment over a lack of choices and voting fatigue.

On 6 October, on Bourguiba Street, hundreds flocked to cafes, as they do every Sunday, sipping coffees or beers—while daydreaming about leaving the country. 

President Kais Saied is seeking a second term, while some of his most prominent critics are in prison. The election also comes a month after his main rival was jailed suddenly.

The election, expected to be won by Saied, has been met with scepticism by many. 

"An election? Better to call it a mockery", scoffs Loubna, a 23-year-old student who prefers to keep her last name undisclosed for fear of "Saied's police".

"I don't want to get arrested and get stuck here," adds the young woman sarcastically as she prepares for a German language exam with her friends. 

This sarcasm seems to be the prevailing attitude among many Tunisians grappling with the growing authoritarianism of President Kais Saied, who has rewritten the constitution to grant himself more power amid a deteriorating economy. 

With the Tunisian economy at a standstill with a growth rate of just 0.4 per cent and an unemployment rate of 16.4 per cent in 2023, according to the National Institute of Statistics, citizens respond with sarcasm when asked about their situation. "Hayla lblad" (the country is great), they often retort, a phrase usually ironically displayed by anti-Saied protesters on banners in front of the hundreds of police attempting to contain the demonstrations.

Presidential election

The presidential election is the third since the ousting of the 23-year Ben Ali regime. In previous elections, Tunisians were buzzing about selecting a new president, first voting for Béji Caïd Essebsi, and then for Kais Saied, whose strangeness and peculiar metaphors were endearing—at least at the outset.

Today, however, cafes that would typically broadcast the election updates on national TV are instead tuned into Al-Jazeera's live coverage of Israeli attacks in Palestine and Lebanon – an issue that captivates Tunisian youth far more than the latest election developments. 

"This time, no one cares because there aren't many choices and no democracy", says Said, a taxi driver who, like many young Tunisians, opted not to cast a ballot today. 

Unlike the 2019 election, which featured 26 candidates, this election offers only three: President Saied, his former ally Zouhair Magzhaoui, and Ayachi Zammel, who is currently serving a 12-year sentence for alleged electoral fraud.

The Saied-appointed Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) disqualified most of Saied's strongest opponents and ignored legally binding orders from the Administrative Court to reinstate three disqualified candidates. 

Last week, the Tunisian parliament—elected in 2023 with a turnout of just 11 per cent—stripped the country's administrative court of its power to rule on election appeals through an unprecedented last-minute decree.

"It feels like we've held dozens of elections since Saied came to power. We are tired," the taxi driver lamented, wishing he had immigrated before having his three-year-old child, whose smiling picture hangs in his car. 

As of 2023, approximately 75,900 migrants have attempted to leave Tunisia for other countries, with many seeking to cross the deadly Mediterranean to Europe.​

Low turnout

Since 2019, Tunisia has held a series of elections. It began with his rise to power in the 2019 presidential election, followed by a parliamentary vote that same year. 

Following Saied's 2021 power grab, which solidified his control, Tunisia held a constitutional referendum that expanded his powers, setting the stage for parliamentary elections in 2022-2023. Each subsequent vote has seen a significant decline in turnout.

Today's presidential election turnout rate is 14.16 per cent by 1 pm local time (GMT+1). The voter turnout for in last presidential election was approximately 55.3% during the first round.

"Young Tunisians are more focused on their futures than on the future of a country that has been stagnant for decades", says Nabil Chachoane, a 60-year-old man smirking playfully at his son, who boycotted the election. 

Proudly displaying the purple ink of his voting stamp, he asserts, "We should always practice our constitutional right. We fought for those rights."

Many elderly Tunisians echo this sentiment, stressing the importance of patience and active citizenship in the political sphere, no matter how dire the circumstances become, as it is the only way to effect change. 

Yet, among the disillusioned youth, some still believe in the Tunisian dream, convinced that the people who toppled Ben Ali's regime could easily dismantle Saied's new brand of authoritarianism. 

"I see today's presidential election as an opportunity for change, despite the lack of fairness and the current regime’s attempts to stifle it," says Marwan Bahri, a young activist. 

Bahri, who boycotted the referendum and legislative elections, argues that previous elections were mere rearrangements within a system that must be rejected entirely. 

"But the presidential election is a chance to change the entire system," he asserts.

The ISIE is scheduled to release the final turnout figures by 7:30 PM local time as polls close and the vote counting begins. If none of the three candidates secures more than 50% of the votes, a second round will take place between the top two contenders.