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Tunisia’s Presidential Election to Be Decided in Runoff Runoff Will Decide President of Tunisia
(about 11 hours later)
TUNIS — Tunisia’s first democratic presidential elections will go to a runoff in December between the two leading candidates, President Moncef Marzouki and former Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, the election board announced on Tuesday. TUNIS — Tunisia’s first democratic presidential election will be decided in a runoff next month between the two leading candidates, President Moncef Marzouki and Beji Caid Essebsi, a former prime minister, the election board announced on Tuesday.
Preliminary results of the first round of the election, held on Sunday, showed Mr. Essebsi, 87, receiving 39.46 percent of votes and Mr. Marzouki 33.43 percent. The two men were far ahead of the rest of the 27 candidates. As no candidate secured a majority of votes, the two front-runners will face each other in a runoff. Preliminary results of the first round, held on Sunday, showed Mr. Essebsi in first place with 39.46 percent of the vote, and Mr. Marzouki second with 33.43 percent. The two front-runners will face each other in a runoff because no candidate secured a majority in the race.
Given that only six percentage points separated them in the first round, the runoff may well be a closer contest than expected. It has already reopened the deep divisions in Tunisian society between secularists and Islamists and could frustrate hopes of a national unity government between the two main blocs in Parliament: Mr. Essebsi’s party, Nidaa Tounes, and the main Islamist party, Ennahda.
Even before the presidential results were announced, Mr. Essebsi lashed out at Mr. Marzouki and accused Ennahda of supporting him despite its public stance of not endorsing a candidate.
“We need to know that those who voted for Marzouki are the Islamists who were organized to vote for him,” he told RMC, a French radio station. He went on to list groups: “The officials of Ennahda, parties that are more extremist, also Salafist jihadists, and also the Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution, and all these are violent parties. It is normal that they align in this way.”
Mr. Marzouki almost certainly enjoyed support from Islamists even without any public endorsement from Ennahda. If the party openly gets behind Mr. Marzouki in the runoff and he collects supporters from some of the other candidates, he could close the gap with Mr. Essebsi, according to some analysts.
Mr. Marzouki, a physician, human rights activist and longtime dissident who opposed the authoritarian governments of Presidents Habib Bourguiba and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, dismissed Mr. Essebsi’s attack as scaremongering and said the divisions in Tunisia were not between secularists and Islamists but between democrats like himself and the “anti-democrats.”
He has accused Mr. Essebsi, who held prominent positions under both Mr. Bourguiba and Mr. Ben Ali, of seeking to bring back the old ruling establishment that was overthrown in the popular uprising nearly four years ago that brought down the government of Mr. Ben Ali.
“We are now practically head-to-head,” he said in an interview with the French television channel France 24. “Now we need a real debate so the Tunisian people really choose between two people, not according to intoxicating stories, but between two human beings, two political schools, two trajectories, two visions of the future.”
Mr. Marzouki has challenged Mr. Essebsi to a televised debate and excoriated his rival for declining to take part. Mr. Marzouki, 69, is a familiar face on television debates and talk shows, while Mr. Essebsi, 87, tends to stick to one-on-one interviews and controlled events.
Mr. Marzouki said he hoped to close the gap between him and Mr. Essebsi in the second round by picking up votes from people opposed to the old government, including former dissidents who supported the leader of the popular front, Hamma Hammami.
Mr. Hammami came in third in the presidential race, with almost 8 percent; the businessman Hachmi Hamdi secured 5.75 percent; and the tycoon Slim Riahi received 5.55 percent. It was not clear whether any of them would endorse one of the two remaining candidates, and their followers may prove divided.
Ennahda did not put forward its own candidate for the presidency, nor did it endorse a candidate while it was negotiating a possible unity government with Nidaa Tounes, or at least some sort of coalition that would give Ennahda cabinet posts.
Nevertheless, party members are generally supportive of Mr. Marzouki, and after being beaten by Nidaa Tounes in parliamentary elections last month, Ennahda suddenly finds itself in a position of potential kingmaker.
Mr. Essebsi has promised to create an inclusive government but has delayed its formation until after the presidential election has been decided. Senior members of his party have, however, been vocal in their opposition to sharing power with the Islamists.
The second round will be held on Dec. 14 or Dec. 21, depending on the time needed for the adjudication of complaints about the first round of voting, election officials said.The second round will be held on Dec. 14 or Dec. 21, depending on the time needed for the adjudication of complaints about the first round of voting, election officials said.
The leader of the left-wing Popular Front, Hamma Hammami, obtained 7.82 percent of votes; the businessman Hechmi Hamdi secured 5.75 percent; and the tycoon Slim Riahi received 5.55 percent. National and international observers declared the election credible and well administered, saying it was a positive achievement for the country four years after the revolt that overthrew Mr. Ben Ali and inspired other pro-democracy movements in the Arab Spring.
For the most part, national and international observers declared the election credible and well administered, and said it was a positive achievement for the country four years after a popular uprising overthrew President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and inspired pro-democracy movements across the region. The observers noted, however, that much of Tunisia’s youth did not bother to vote, a cause for concern in a country with a high proportion of young people and where youth unemployment is about 30 percent, which contributed to the uprising against Mr. Ben Ali.
The observers noted, however, that much of Tunisia’s youth did not bother to vote, a cause for concern in a country with a high proportion of young people. The unemployment rate for young people in Tunisia, at around 30 percent, contributed to the uprising against Mr. Ben Ali. Despite the generally high marks from observers, the International Republican Institute raised concerns about the many complaints that candidates had offered to buy votes. “While these allegations are difficult to prove, the consistency of the complaint speaks to an underlying problem in the electoral campaign process,” the organization said in a statement on Monday.
Former ministers of Mr. Ben Ali’s government fared poorly in the election, with Kamel Morjane, a former foreign minister, securing only 1.27 percent of the vote, and Mondher Zenaidi, a former health minister, 0.74 percent. The longtime dissident Ahmed Nejib Chebbi received 1.04 percent and Mustapha Ben Jaafar, who has served as the speaker of Parliament for the last three years, 0.67 percent.
The International Republican Institute, a nonpartisan organization that sent observers to Tunisia for the election, raised concerns about numerous complaints stating that candidates had offered financial compensation in exchange for votes. “While these allegations are difficult to prove, the consistency of the complaint speaks to an underlying problem in the electoral campaign process,” the institute said in a statement on Monday.