The electoral commission of Tunisia announced the results of the first round of the presidential election on Tuesday. Shockingly, two outsiders, who have never held any political office, advanced to the final round of the election. The results intrigued the whole world as these two populists, Kais Saied and Nabil Karoui, defeated established political bigshots including former prime ministers on their way to victory.
Kais Saied, a little known law professor who turned out to be the dark horse in these elections. He fought independently with the agendas of decentralization of power by making the local bodies powerful and managed to secure 18.4% of the votes cast.
On the other hand, Nabil Karoui, accused of tax evasion and money laundering, secured 15.6% of the votes cast. Though he was denied a bail earlier, his lawyers are again seeking his release before the runoff.
Despite being different are having unique approach, both the candidates were drawn on the same ‘anti-system’ approach. The results clearly depict that the Tunisians found resonance in the anti-system campaign and they are exasperated with the status quo.
The two will go head to head in the runoff elections, dates of which are to be announced yet. This was the second free presidential election in Tunisia after it was democratized in 2011.
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Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/world/middleeast/tunisia-election-president.html