Sixty-one-year-old Kais Saied has won Tunisia\’s presidential election run-off with 76.9% of the votes. The retired academic contested against 56-year old media mogul Nabil Karoui who polled only 23.11% of the votes.
Nabil Karoui, having been arrested on charges of money laundering and tax fraud, for the most part, campaigned from prison until he was released by a court order four days ago.
The first round of elections saw neither aspirant poll the mandatory 50%+1 required by law, thus leading to the run-off election. In the first round of voting, Kais Saied secured 18.4% of the valid votes as against Nabil Karoui’s 15.6%.
Supporters of Kais Saied have taken to the streets of Tunis to celebrate the victory. The independent candidate thanked the Tunisian youth, who according to him, led his campaign and opened a new page of history for the country.
The election was hastened by the death of Tunisia’s first democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, in July. He assumed office in 2014, exactly three years after anti-government protests led to the overthrow of long-serving ruler, Zine al Abidine Ben Ali, paving the way for the Arab Spring Uprising.
