Tunisians have begun voting in a referendum on a new constitution that the president’s critics fear will dismantle the democracy that emerged from a 2011 revolution by giving him near-total power.
The vote comes on the first anniversary of Kais Saied’s dismissal of an elected parliament, when he established an emergency regime and began ruling by fiat.
Tunisia’s divided opposition parties have called his coup moves at risk of returning to the kind of autocratic rule that characterized Tunisia before the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Few people were on the damp early morning streets, but at the polling station on Rue Marsella in central Tunis, Illyes Moujahed was first in line, saying Saied was the country’s only hope.
“I am here to save Tunisia from collapse. To save it from years of corruption and failure,” he said.
It is unclear when the results will be announced after the polls close at 21:00 GMT, but with little apparent enthusiasm for the vote among most Tunisians and a boycott of the main parties, analysts expect a yes with a low participation
Standing outside a cafe in central Tunis, Samir Slimane said he was not interested in voting. “I have no hope of change. Kais Saied will not change anything. He just wants to have all the powers,” he said.
Under Saied’s rules for the referendum, no minimum level of participation among the 9.2 million registered voters is required to approve the new constitution. It has only stipulated that the constitution will come into force once the final results are announced, and has not said what happens if voters reject it.
Saied has celebrated the founding of a new Tunisian republic to end years of political sclerosis and economic stagnation.
However, while almost all major political parties and civil society organizations have denounced his unilateral approach to rewriting the constitution and the legitimacy of the referendum, they have failed to build a united front.
The disunity was visible in the protests against Saied in recent days. The Islamist Ennahda party, the largest in parliament, took part in a protest on Saturday. Civil society organizations and smaller parties held a Friday. A party that supported the pre-revolutionary autocracy remained in both days.
The protests drew fairly small numbers, but rallies organized by Saied’s supporters have also been modestly attended, and there have been few signs of excitement around the campaign. Most Tunisians seem more focused on the terrible economy and rising prices.
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The economic downturn since 2011 has left many people angry with the parties that have ruled since the revolution and disillusioned with the political system they run.
“I don’t support Saied, but I will vote yes in the referendum because those protesting it are the main cause of our problems for the last decade,” said Mohammed, a resident of Tripoli.
Of the three parliamentary and two presidential elections since the revolution, the lowest turnout, at 41%, was in 2019 for the chamber that Saied has dissolved.
A turnout on Monday well below this rate would further question the legitimacy of Saied’s new constitution and his project to remake Tunisian politics.