Tunisia's largest syndicate calls for halting electoral process

By Adel al-Thabti

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - The Tunisian General Labor Union, the country's largest syndicate, has called for a halt to the current electoral process and to instead address issues the country is facing.

"If there is political maturity, we will stop this (electoral) path and talk about what will get the country out of the dilemmas in which it has fallen," the head of the syndicate, Noureddine Taboubi, told Radio Diwan FM.

"This is what wisdom requires ... to avoid chaos," he said. "Where is the wisdom?"

Taboubi said he expected President Kais Saied to promptly react to the low election turnout and to declare “the message was received” and review the situation.

"Mr. President of the republic, today is part of the tensions, and I have no personal quarrel, neither with the president nor with the prime minister (Naglaa Boden)," he added.

Tunisia’s Independent High Authority for Elections announced Monday that the turnout in the first round of early elections Dec. 17 amounted to 11.22% out of 9.2 million people eligible to vote.

In the first round, 23 parliamentary seats out of 154 were determined and candidates will vie for 131 seats in the second round.

The elections are the latest step in a series of exceptional measures taken by Saied, which started in July 2021 with the ousting of the government, dissolving parliament and drafting a new Constitution.

The polls were boycotted by major parties, including the Ennahda movement, Heart of Tunisia Part and the Movement Party.

While Saied insists that his recent exceptional measures are meant to "save" the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat