Tunisians Shun Bizerte Legislative Elections: Unpacking the Causes and Consequences

With every election cycle in Tunisia, the circle of public disengagement widens — deepening the isolation of President Kais Said’s increasingly authoritarian regime and raising fresh doubts over its political legitimacy.

The latest sign of this growing disconnect came on June 28, 2025, in the northern city of Bizerte, where a by-election for parliament drew a turnout of just 2.5 percent.

According to figures published by Radio Nationale on June 30, a total of 2,623 valid votes were cast out of 89,632 registered voters in Bizerte’s by-election — a turnout that underscores the deepening political apathy gripping Tunisia. An additional 56 ballots were voided, while 80 were left blank.

The official vote count was split among seven candidates: Adnen Allouch received 581 votes, Mohamed Essid 584, Mehrez Ghannouchi 340, Fatma Rabii 475, Kamel Guaidi 252, Kamel Chetouane 213, and Hichem Arfaoui 178.

But the numbers told a larger story. As reported by the Tunisian outlet Polytechnique, the regime’s preferred candidate, Mahrez Ghannouchi, failed to make it past the first round, finishing in fourth place — a symbolic blow that reflects growing public disillusionment with President Kais Said’s one-man rule and its steady drift into political and economic isolation.

Since President Kais Said’s decision to consolidate power in July 2021, Tunisia has been plunged into a state of exceptional measures — including the dissolution of the judiciary council and parliament, the issuance of legislation by presidential decree, the adoption of a new constitution via referendum, and the holding of early parliamentary elections.

The country is now gripped by a profound political and human rights crisis, marked by politically motivated trials targeting activists and opposition figures, most notably Rached Ghannouchi, the dissolved parliament’s speaker and leader of the Ennahda movement. Critics accuse Said of weaponizing the judiciary to silence his opponents.

In October 2024, Tunisia held a presidential election that returned Kais Said to the Palace of Carthage with an overwhelming 90.69 percent of the vote. Yet voter turnout languished at just 28.8 percent — the lowest participation rate since the 2011 revolution that toppled Zine el Abidine Ben Ali’s regime.

Political Isolation

The low voter turnout prompted a wave of reactions from political figures, including former Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem.
In a Facebook post dated June 30, Abdessalem described the participation rate recorded in the Bizerte elections as “the weakest in human history since the invention of the voting mechanism.”

“The truth is, the turnout is not merely low — it is virtually non-existent.”

“Populism without a people is like monkeys without bananas, and a leader without a people is like a clown laughing alone on stage without an audience,” Abdessalem added.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament Fatima Mseddi described the by-election in the Bizerte North district not as a minor detail, but as a warning sign.

Mseddi posted on Facebook, “When two candidates qualify with only 600 votes each, take note of the message,” highlighting “voter apathy, weak representation, and a mere three-vote difference between first and second place.”

She argued that the question is not only “Why didn’t people vote?” but also “Why have they lost trust in the first place?”

The parliamentary deputy described the situation as “clear,” adding, “The parliament has become marginalized, lacking any real role; the government fails to respond to deputies’ questions, legislative proposals are frozen and sidelined, and the executive branch acts as if it is the sole authority in the state. So, what can the people be expected to do?”

“These elections have exposed the fragility of the current democratic process among the public,” warning that “if we do not restore the balance between powers and reaffirm parliament’s weight and role, what lies ahead will be even worse,” Mseddi said.

Lack of Legitimacy

For his part, Tunisian political analyst Nasreddine Souilmi described the main theme of the partial parliamentary elections in Bizerte as “a widespread disengagement from politics or a complete resignation from the political sphere.”

Souilmi told Al-Estiklal that the low turnout reflects how the national community—or the electorate at large—views the electoral process as little more than a patchwork exercise, marked by a profound lack of seriousness and credibility.

He went on to say that the situation evokes memories of the pre-revolutionary era of December 17, 2010, when the authoritarian regime exerted tight control over every detail of the electoral process.

Souilmi accused the Independent High Authority for Elections, headed by Farouk Bouasker, of engaging in covert electoral manipulation through various circumvention tactics—ranging from the redrawing of constituencies to candidacy requirements and beyond.

However, he added that, so far, there has been no evidence of fraud in the actual vote-counting process, noting that there is no absolute loyalty to President Kais Said among the authority’s members.

Souilmi did not rule out the possibility of blatant and direct electoral fraud emerging in the near future, warning that any members of the election authority who object to such practices could face imprisonment, detention, or a barrage of accusations from the ruling powers.

In a related development, the Administrative Court issued final, non-appealable rulings in August 2024 reinstating key figures to the presidential race held in October 2024. 

Among those restored were Imed Daimi, a former senior candidate from the Congress for the Republic party; Mondher Zenaidi, a former minister under the Ben Ali regime; and Abdellatif Mekki, secretary-general of the Labour and Achievement party.

The ruling came after the election authority disqualified these candidates on the grounds that they did not meet the eligibility criteria—moves the opposition viewed as a deliberate attempt to sideline President Kais Said’s rivals through onerous legal conditions and trivial pretexts, effectively clearing the path for his second term.

When asked about possible ways to address the situation or achieve change, the Tunisian political analyst said this was contingent on reaching a stage where the struggle against the dictator takes precedence over the factional battles dominated by ideological divisions. 

Only then, he argued, would the countdown to meaningful change begin.

He continued, noting that “today, the primary adversary of the secular opposition remains political Islam, not the coup or the coup-makers. As a result, the struggle remains out of the spotlight, and the opposition is still drawing from a leaky vessel.”

Authoritarian Rule

Warnings about Tunisia’s slide into authoritarianism have also come from a number of international media outlets. 

In this context, the French newspaper Le Figaro noted that since assuming power in 2019, Kais Said has embarked—much like the so-called “banana republics”—on a reckless campaign of authoritarianism, targeting opponents and undermining the country’s constitutional foundations.

The paper recalled the recent judgments handed down by the Tunisian judiciary in May 2025, describing them as excessive and emblematic of the president’s escalating authoritarianism, which has persisted since his election in 2019 with continued violations of fundamental freedoms, starting with the suppression of dissenting voices.

Le Figaro characterized the sentences from this trial—which ranged from 13 to 66 years in prison—as strikingly Stalinist in nature.

Forty individuals—predominantly journalists, lawyers, businesspeople, intellectuals, and activists known as prominent government critics—have been accused of charges including “conspiracy against state security,” “participation in founding a terrorist organization aimed at destabilizing Tunisia’s internal and external security,” “terrorist acts,” “incitement to civil war,” and “provoking unrest.”

Despite being elected president on a platform promising change and a better future—and despite his background as a constitutional law academic—Said has systematically violated the law since his initial election, consolidating near-absolute powers.

He exploited a complex political landscape exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, dissolving parliament and the Supreme Judicial Council, and amending the constitution that had, since 2014, enshrined parliamentary governance. 

Said focused on centralizing authority in his own hands before securing a second term in October 2024, in an election the newspaper described as dubious, with a reported 90 percent of the vote.

A report published by the Spanish newspaper el Pais in May 2025 highlighted mass trials and prison sentences handed down to political opponents under President Kais Said’s rule.

The report noted that the wave of arrests began following Said’s dissolution of parliament in 2021, culminating in the conviction of a former prime minister amid a strikingly muted European response to the country’s deteriorating freedoms.

It added that more than 100 opposition figures have been sentenced to prison in the past three months alone, marking a disturbing return to the repressive landscape Tunisia experienced under the Ben Ali regime prior to 2011.

The report added that the 34-year prison sentence handed down to former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh represents the peak of this crackdown, at a time when the opposition is facing a coordinated assault from the judiciary.

It detailed how Islamist and secular politicians, journalists, and intellectuals have been either detained or forced into exile, a reality confirmed by Bassam Khawaja of Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch noted that the repression of dissent has intensified since Said abolished the Supreme Judicial Council in 2022, beginning a campaign of judicial purges and manipulating the courts to target his political adversaries.

Amnesty International has also reported that the authorities have weaponized the judiciary to suppress freedom of expression and political opposition, describing the crackdown as a witch hunt against every critical voice challenging the regime.

The report highlighted that the trial of Ali Larayedh and seven leaders of the Ennahda movement was held behind closed doors as part of the so-called “jihadist networks” case, despite the defense’s claims of a lack of evidence.

It confirmed that Ennahda—once the dominant party following the 2019 elections—has been effectively outlawed, with its leader, Rached Ghannouchi, sentenced to 22 years in prison in addition to previous convictions.

The report also detailed a mass sentencing of 40 opposition figures charged with “conspiracy against state security” by the anti-terrorism court, with sentences reaching up to 66 years in prison amid glaring violations of fair trial guarantees.

It noted that lawyer Sonia Dahmani was imprisoned for 18 months over a sarcastic remark.

The report further highlighted a proposal by the European Commission to designate Tunisia as a “safe country,” a move that could legally bar Tunisians from seeking asylum—despite cautious European criticism of the ongoing crackdown.

The report noted that the European Commission continues to back agreements with Tunisia aimed at curbing migration in exchange for funding, turning a blind eye to the country’s escalating human rights abuses and political repression.

It highlighted the prosecution’s reliance on “secret testimonies” to justify the crackdown, while international organizations have condemned the charges as fabricated, accusing the regime of using “state security” as a pretext for authoritarian rule.

The report concluded that these verdicts mark the end of Tunisia’s democratic transition—a nation once hailed as the beacon of hope for the Arab Spring, now left facing bitter disillusionment.