21 Dec 2022; MEMO: The Free Destourian Party in Tunisia called on President Kais Saied to abolish the results of the parliamentary elections, vacate the seat of president and call for early presidential elections.
The party, which lawyer Abir Moussi heads, addressed Saied saying: "You cannot deny or be ignorant that you have lost your legitimacy and legality as President of the Tunisian Republic and that you are considered a usurper of power."
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The party called on Saied to "declare the status of vacancy at the level of the presidency … and to call immediately for presidential elections as soon as possible to settle the situation and restore the normal status of the presidency. This can be implemented by considering the current government as a caretaker government that has no powers other than the management of urgent issues in the country."
The results of the recent parliamentary elections sparked widespread controversy in Tunisia, especially since it witnessed the lowest turnout of voters in the country's history. According to Tunisia's Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) on Saturday, only 803,638 voters out of 9,163,502 participated in the elections; making up only 8.8 per cent of the electorate. The figure was revised to 11.2 per cent yesterday and again to 25 per cent today.