This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 80%. (I'm a bot)

> A mere 11% of the electorate voted in Tunisia's parliamentary runoffs, with critics of president Kais Saied saying the empty polling stations were evidence of public disdain for his agenda and seizure of powers.

> The latest poll was seen as the final pillar of Saied's transformation of politics, ushering in a new legislature that will have almost no authority to hold the president or government to account.

> Saied has said his actions were both legal and necessary to save Tunisia from years of corruption and economic decline at the hands of a self-interested political elite.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Saied^#1 vote^#2 Tunisia^#3 power^#4 Almost^#5

About 887,000 voters cast ballots from a total electorate of 7.8 million, the electoral commission said. Final results were not expected on Sunday. The main parties boycotted the vote and most seats are expected to go to independents.

The perfect capstone to the bad joke known as the “Arab Spring”. This part of the world will never really have true democracy, unfortunately

Ahhhhh. This is why authoritarians claim such high percentages.

lol, I love how people make generalizations like this. Even I tend to say things like, regardless of where you come from; you had been in complete chaos and lack of “democracy” at some harsh times of your region’s history.

Sadly it does seem like the end, Tunisia was the only success story, they may yet recover but that would be quite hail Mary :(.

In terms of never, I disagree, but in foreseeable future you are probably right. The mix of history of distrusting external central authority which only legitimacy was strength, culture of tribalism and loyalty to in-groups instead of state identity as well as political Islam that makes compromise impossible as you can't really compromise with God.

All of those exist in other places as well, but all those exist there for now. I still hope for people of the region to buck those trends.

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why is the opposition LETTING THEM WIN then, with stupid boycotts?

pointless

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why you think this is the end for tunisian democracy ? we just changed the political system from parliamentary to presidential.

And Tunisians voted for this new change. All elections we held after the dismissing of the parliament were times more fair that the ones before.

11 turnout proves that. And We will have presidential elections next 2024 and Kais can be voted out if that’s what we want.

Parties being mad and boycotting the election is expected as now they have less power and that’s what we the people wanted.

Also the talk about tribalism, religion and Idk what is all false and irrelevant. The dismissing of the parliament happened because the past system was unable to deliver for the economy.

It’s all about the economy. You yourselves are experiencing the rise of right wing parties due to the harsh economic situation.

I live in UK and I agree, that the country is in decline. However moving to presidential system in which parliamentary elections are boycotted by almost 90% of population don't show almost any hope for democracy.

Don't get me wrong I really really hope that Tunisia, the whole region and for selfish reason UK, will turn it around, but it looks grim for next generation or two :(