Kais Saied faces fractured political landscape in Tunisia after win
Conservative Kais Saeid has won a landslide victory in Tunisia’s second round of the presidential elections.
The Oct. 13 landslide victory for outsider presidential candidate Kais Saied was historic by any measure.
After an unpredictable contest in which voters appeared determined to purge traditional parties and public figures that have dominated the post-Arab Spring landscape, Tunisian politics has entered a new era –– though exactly what comes next is anyone’s guess.
On top and projected to win between 72% and 77% of the vote, conservative constitutional law professor Saied swept to a historic victory over millionaire media mogul Nabil Karoui, who was dogged by scandal and released from prison just days before the vote amidst charges of tax fraud.
Riding a wave of revolt that was driven by an unorthodox coalition of students, anti-corruption voters and conservatives, Saied rose from relative obscurity little more than a year ago to best an original field of 27 candidates and seize the highest political office in the land.
