Tunisia seeks new leader to boost economy, fight terror
TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisians are casting ballots in their North African country’s second democratic presidential election, choosing among 26 candidates for a leader who can safeguard its young democracy and tackle its unemployment, corruption and economic despair.
The voting followed a noisy but brief campaign — 12 days — marked by backbiting and charges of corruption among the contenders. All vowed to boost the country’s flagging economy and protect it from further deadly attacks by Islamist extremists.
Tunisia is in many ways an exception in the Arab world, with its budding democracy lurching forward despite a flagging economy and a battle with Islamist extremists. About 6,000 Tunisian and international observers, including from the EU and the United States, are present for the vote.
More than 100,000 security forces were on guard Sunday — 70,000 police and 32,000 troops — as 7 million registered voters were called to the polls. Military surveillance was especially tight in border regions near Algeria and Libya where Islamist extremists are active. For security reasons, four areas were closing polls two hours ahead of the 6 p.m. closure elsewhere.
Despite the stakes, at 1 p.m., or halfway through the 10 hours that voters had to get to the polls, the participation rate was only at 16.31%, according to the body in charge of elections.
The plethora of contenders includes a jailed media magnate, Nabil Karoui, who was arrested last month in a money laundering and tax evasion probe but led polls ahead of the vote.