Tunisia - elections

Ben Ali confident as Tunisians vote

Article published on the 2009-10-25 Latest update 2009-10-25 13:37 TU

A man puts up a poster for President Abidine Ben Ali
(Photo: Reuters)

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is confident of re-election in today's presidential poll, while his Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) is expected to win the parliamentary election also taking place Sunday.

Official results are expected to be announced on Monday but there is little doubt that Ben Ali will be re-elected for his fifth term or that the RCD will keep its big majority in parliament.

But human rights groups say the election is a foregone conclusion. Two would-be candidates, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi and Mustapha Ben Jaafar, were banned from running for "non-conformity with the law" and Ben Ali and the RCD have hogged the media coverage.

Ahmed Brahim, the candidate of the Ettajdid party
( Photo: Marie Pierre Olphand/RFI )

"The Tunisian authorities exercise very heavy pressure on anyone who refuses togo along with the unanimity in favour of Mr Ben Ali," says a statement from the International League of Human Rights and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network.

It accuses the regime of physical and legal harassment of opponents inside the country and in exile.

 

Four candidates are standing against Ben Ali:

• Ahmed Brahim, a retired university professor standing for the left-wing Ettajadid (Renewal) party, which has three parliamentary seats; he has objected to the censorship of his manifesto and the seizure of copies of the party newspaper;
• Mohamed Bouchiha of the Popular Unity Party, with 11 seats in the outgoing National Assembly;
• Ahmed Inoubli of the Democratic Unionist Union, seven seats.

In the last election, in 2004, Ben Ali won with 94.4 per cent of the vote.

The RCD is confident of keeping its parliamentary majority. It is the only party able to contest all seats in Sunday's poll.

Few independent observers will watch the proceedings and the political parties will not even send members to all the polling stations in the capital. The President's press service has discouraged journalists from covering him when he votes at a polling station in Carthage.