Tunisians Head to Polls to Elect a New President · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Voters stand in line to cast their votes. Photo shared by Tunisia Live on Twitter
Tunisians are once again heading to polls today to elect a new president, in the second round of the presidential election.
Outgoing interim president Moncef Marzouki faces 88-year-old political veteran Beji Caid Essebsi from Nida Tounes.
During the first round of the presidential race, Essebsi obtained 39 per cent of the votes while Mazouki came second with 33 per cent of the votes.
Essebsi's party secured a plurality during the parliamentary elections on October 26, winning 86 out of the total 217 seats. The Islamist Ennahdha movement, which won the 2011 election, obtained 69 seats.
Though his party did not do well in the legislative poll only winning four seats, Marzouki is backed by Ennahdha supporters. This is despite a decision by Ennahdha, which did not present a candidate to the presidency, not to support any of the final contenders.
‘Historic’ poll
The 21 December run-off will put an end to a four-year democratic transition that started after the ousting of former President Zine el-Abidin Ben Ali on January 14, 2011.
On Twitter, netizens are sharing their hopes for a better tomorrow for Tunisia.
4 days after 4 yr anniversary of the start of the Arab Spring, #Tunisia votes Sunday. A bright spot of democratic growth in a field of weeds
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) December 19, 2014
The powers of the upcoming president are restricted by the 2014 constitution. However, today's polls are considered ‘historic’ because this is the first time that Tunisians are able to freely elect their President.
a good news to start the day: #Tunisia is choosing its president today,which is historical in itself,regardless of who's gonna win #Tunprez
— dona (@donatelladr) December 21, 2014
Tomorrow is elections day and nobody can tell who's going to be #Tunisia next president. That, in itself, is historical. #TnPrez
— Nessryne J (@sasoukee) December 20, 2014
Whoever wins will be first freely elected President in the history of #Tunisia & only democratically elected leader in the Arab world now
— Naveena Kottoor (@NaveenaKottoor) December 21, 2014
The contenders
Beji Caid Essebsi occupied various ministerial posts under the country's autocratic post-independence president Habib Bourguiba, including the despised Interior Ministry from 1965 to 1969. Essebsi also served as the head of the chamber of deputies between 1990 to 1991 under the rule of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
After the 2011 revolution, he was appointed as an interim prime minister before leaving office after the constituent assembly election of 2011. Essebsi's opponents criticize him for his old age and his association with the previous autocratic regimes of Bourguiba and Ben Ali. His party Nidaa Tounes includes in its leadership members of the former regime.
Aged 69, Moncef Marzouki was a human rights activist and a political opponent to the regime of Zine el Abidin Ben Ali. He served as the head of the Tunisian League for Human Rights between 1989 and 1984. In 2001, he founded the center-left Congress for the Republic party (CPR), before it was banned a year later and Marzouki went into exile in France.
Marzouki became president in December 2011 after his party came second in the Constituent Assembly election and entered into a three-party coalition government with the Islamist Ennahdha Movement, which won a plurality in the 2011 election.
Marzouki's critics blame him and the performance of his ruling partners for the erosion in living standards, the rise of militant insurgency against Tunisian troops and police and two political assassinations that claimed the lives of secular politician Chokri Belaid and constituent assembly member Mohamed Brahmi.
On December 19, Essebsi said:
الباجي قائد السبسي :على الناخبين يوم 21 ان يعلموا بأنهم يصوتون ضد من يحاولون احياء الترويكا من جديد #BCE #MFM #Tnelec #TnPrez
— Beji Caid Essebsi (@BejiCEOfficial) December 19, 2014
Beji Caid Essebsi: on December 21, voters need to realize that they will be voting against those seeking to revive Troika [the three-party coalition that served between late 2011 and early 2014]
During his campaign, Marzouki evoked his record of a human rights activist and slammed his opponent for serving under the previous regime.
أساليب العهد البائد يجب ان ترحل #TnPrez #Marzouki2014 #تونس_تنتصر
— محمد المنصف المرزوقي (@Moncef_Marzouki) December 14, 2014
The methods of the previous regime need to leave
He further presented himself as the ‘guarantor of freedoms':
سأكون ضامناً للحريات ولترسيخ الديمقراطية ومسار التاريخ لا يعود أبداً إلى الوراء #باجة #Marzouki2014 #TnPrez #تونس_تنتصر
— محمد المنصف المرزوقي (@Moncef_Marzouki) December 12, 2014
I will be the guarantor of freedoms and of democracy, and the path of history never returns back
But Essebsi also pledges to guarantee freedoms.
قائد السبسي :سأكون الضامن للحريات فنحن ننظر للمستقبل وليس للماضي كما يفعل منافسونا #BCE #Tnelec #TnPrez
— Beji Caid Essebsi (@BejiCEOfficial) December 13, 2014
Caid Essebsi: I will be the guarantor of freedoms. Unlike our opponents, we look to the future and not the past
Reports of low turnout
As voters continue to flock to polling stations which opened at 8am and close at 6pm local time, there have been reports of low turnout.
As of 10 am local time in Tunisia, election authorities have recorded a 14% turnout in the presidential runoff vote.
— Tamer El-Ghobashy (@TamerELG) December 21, 2014
Wafa Ben Hassine tweeted a picture of an empty polling station in Mahdia (central-eastern Tunisia).
Voting center in Melloulech, Mahdia is so empty :( #TnPrez #Tunisia pic.twitter.com/NsVbV1rsM5
— Wafé Ben Hassine (@ousfourita) December 21, 2014
She added in another tweet:
“There were more people voting in the first presidential elections, and more still in the legislative” voter in Mahdia #TnPrez #Tunisia
— Wafé Ben Hassine (@ousfourita) December 21, 2014
Saran Aissi tweeted:
À 9h, j'ai été le 6ème électeur du bureau de vote, les agents s'amusent à faire le décompte tellement il y a peu de participation #TnPrez
— Sarhan Aissi (@SarhanTN) December 21, 2014
At 9am, I was the 6th voter in my polling bureau. There are so very few voters that the officers are having fun at counting them
According to the electoral commission, the turnout inside the country reached 36.8 per cent as of 2:30pm.