Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has won a fifth term with 89.62 percent of the vote in the North African country’s presidential election, the state news agency said yesterday.
One opposition party called Sunday’s vote a missed opportunity to move the North African country towards democracy, echoing accusations by international human rights groups that the campaign took place in an atmosphere of repression.
Ben Ali, who is 73 and has been in power for 22 years, has rejected those allegations and warned that anyone spreading lies to damage the country’s image will be prosecuted.
Ben Ali’s margin was down slightly compared with the 94.4 percent he received in the last election five years ago, a dip that may help deflect foreign criticism that the latest race was tilted in his favor.
His RCD ruling party won 75 percent of the seats in a parliamentary vote held simultaneously on Sunday, the official news agency TAP reported.
The Interior Ministry, which oversaw the voting, is expected to formally announce the outcome of boths elections later yesterday.
Ben Ali has established Tunisia as a moderate voice in the Arab world and Western governments view it as a bulwark against Islamist extremism, although some have raised questions about its record on democracy.
Tunisia’s most prominent opposition figures did not take part in the election.
Two of Ben Ali’s challengers on the ballot rarely criticize the president and the third acknowledged during the campaign that he could not win.
“The regime has missed another opportunity to carry out a democratic transition in Tunisia,”said Rachid Kechana, deputy secretary-general of the opposition PDP party, which boycotted the election.
“The election was meaningless and the results confirm that,” he said.
International human rights groups have alleged that campaigning took place in an atmosphere of repression. Ben Ali, 73, hit back on Saturday by saying the vote would be democratic and accusing his opponents of peddling lies.
Many voters in Sunday’s election said the president deserved another term because he had made Tunisia one of the region’s most stable and prosperous countries.
“He is the savior of our country,” said 50-year-old Nejia Azouzi as she voted for Ben Ali in the capital on Sunday.
The Tunisian president came to power in 1987 when doctors declared his predecessor, Habib Bourguiba, unfit to rule after more than 30 years in power.
Official figures showed a high turnout on Sunday, but with most Tunisians in little doubt about the outcome of the vote, enthusiasm was muted.
“What is the point in taking part?” said one young man in a cafe in Tunis, who asked not to be identified. “Everything that is happening is just a show.”
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