5 Tunisian parties reject results of constitutional referendum

TUNIS, Tunisia

Five Tunisian parties on Wednesday rejected the results of a referendum on the country’s new constitution.

This came in a press conference held in the capital Tunis by the National Campaign to Overthrow the Referendum, a coalition of five Tunisian parties.

Members of the coalition are the Republican Party the Democratic Current, the Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties, the Workers Party, and the Qutb Party.

According to Tunisia’s electoral commission, 94.6 percent of voters backed the new constitution during Monday’s referendum with a voter turnout of 30.5 percent.

“Around 75 percent of Tunisian voters did not participate in the referendum,” Issam Chebbi, Secretary-General of the Republican Party, told the press conference.

He termed the low voter turnout as a “slap to anyone who wanted to obtain an allegiance."

Chebbi accused the Electoral Commission of "altering the voter turnout from 27.5 percent to 30.5 percent by adding 400,000 voters who participated after the polls were closed."

There was no comment from the commission on the accusation.

Riad bin Fadl, the coordinator of the Al-Qutb Party, said the regime of President Kais Saied “will fall much sooner than anticipated."

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that aggravated the country's economic conditions since Saied ousted the government, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority in July 2021. He later dissolved the assembly after lawmakers held a session to challenge his measures.

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

*Ikram Imane Kouachi in Ankara contributed to this report