A Tunisian voter will vote in the second round of the legislative elections in Tunisia on January 29, 2023. The Independent High Authority for Elections ISIE said on Sunday that the preliminary turnout of Tunisia's second round of legislative elections was 11.3 percent.
The turnout in the second round of Tunisia's legislative elections has reached 11.3 percent, with 887,638 out of 7,853, 447 registered voters casting their ballots, said ISIE President Farouk Bouasker at a press conference held in the capital, Tunisia.
Tunisians started voting in the second round of the legislative elections on Sunday, with 4,222 voting centers and 10,012 polling stations open from 8 am 0700 GMT to 6 pm 1700 GMT local time.
The total number of candidates running for this round was 262, including 34 women, according to ISIE.
The first round of the election, which took place on December 17, 2022, saw a low turnout rate of 11.22 percent, during which 23 candidates won seats in the new parliament and no one ran for seven seats reserved for overseas constituencies.
It led to the second round of elections to decide the 131 seats in the 161-member parliament.
The low turnout could be caused by factors such as a change in the voting rules and the absence of partisan support for the candidates, according to ISIE Spokesperson Mohamed Tlili Mansri.
The Assembly of People's Representatives, or Tunisian parliament, was disbanded on March 30 last year, according to Tunisian President Kais Saied.
On April 5, 2022, Saied unveiled new voting rules for legislative elections that will be organized in two rounds, and people will vote for individuals rather than lists as in previous elections.
READ MORE: Polls open in Tunisian election with turnout under scrutiny.
The vote was held at a time when Tunisia is facing harsh economic conditions. According to the latest data released by the International Monetary Fund, Tunisia's current account deficit is at 8 percent of GDP and its gross debt is at a record 89.2 percent of GDP, up from 82.8 percent in 2020 and 47 percent in 2011.
In December 2022, the annual inflation rate in Tunisia went up for the 15th consecutive month to 10.1 percent, the highest in 38 years.
On Friday, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the Government of Tunisia's long-term foreign-currency and local-currency issuer ratings to Caa 2 from Caa 1 and changed the outlook to negative.