Until recently, Tunisia was a role model in the Arab world.
A woman votes at the ballot box in Tunis, today (Photo: Reuters)
Parliamentary elections are being held today (Saturday) in Tunisia, but for the first time since the "Arab Spring" revolution in 2011, they are devoid of any semblance of democracy.
The opposition parties, led by the Islamist Al-Nahda, are boycotting the vote due to the quiet coup carried out by President Kays Said last year, and the new constitution he passed in the summer threatens to return the country to single rule.
The elections in Tunisia, which for about a decade enjoyed a free political system in terms of the Arab world, are received with indifference among the majority of the public, who are tired of the political fights and suffering from economic difficulties.
The polls opened at 8:00 a.m. and will close at 6:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. Israel time).
The percentage of voting is expected to be very low, possibly even lower than the rate of participants - only about 30% - in the referendum that was held in July and strengthened Said's powers.
Said, a law professor who was elected to office in 2019 as an independent candidate, shut down parliament last year and deployed tanks around it to prevent lawmakers from entering.
Political opponents were arrested and interrogated, judges were purged and critical media outlets were shut down.
The president claims that his moves are necessary to "save" Tunisia from the previous political system, which he claims led to chaos and corruption in the country.
On the other hand, Najib Shabi, one of the leaders of the anti-Said coalition which includes Al-Nahda, called the elections "a stillborn farce".
The election date fell on a symbolic date - exactly 12 years after Muhammad Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest of the closing of his vegetable stand by the police.
The event ignited the huge protests that overthrew the regime of the dictator Ben Ali in 2011, and Said set this date as the year of the revolution in order to moderate the ouster of the ruler.
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