2009 Tunisian general election

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2009 Tunisian general election
Flag of Tunisia.svg
  2004 25 October 2009 2011  
Presidential election
Turnout89.45%
  Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.jpg
PUP
Nominee Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Mohamed Bouchiha  [ fr ]
Party RCD PUP
Popular vote4,238,711236,955
Percentage89.62%5.01%

President before election

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
RCD

Elected President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
RCD

General elections were held in Tunisia on 25 October 2009. [1] Results released on 26 October 2009 indicated a substantial victory for incumbent President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who won the reelection for a fifth five-year term, and the governing Constitutional Democratic Rally. It was the last election contested under the Ben Ali regime, prior to the Tunisian Revolution.

Contents

Observers

The African Union sent a team of election observers to cover the election. The delegation was led by Benjamin Bounkoulou who described the election as "free and fair". [2] However, a spokesperson from the United States State Department indicated that Tunisia did not allow international monitoring of elections, but the U.S. was still committed to working with the president of Tunisia and its government. [3] There also were reports of mistreatment of an opposition candidate. [4]

Results

President

The Interior Ministry released the official results for the election on Monday 26 October 2009. [5] Voter turnout was recorded at 89.40% with 4,447,388 of Tunisia's 5.3 million registered voters participating. [6] In the presidential race, incumbent president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali won 89.62% of the vote. [5] His nearest rivals were Mohamed Bouchiha with 5.01% of the vote and Ahmed Inoubli with 3.80%, and Ahmed Brahum with 1.57%. [5]

CandidatePartyVotes%
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Constitutional Democratic Rally 4,238,71189.62
Mohamed Bouchiha  [ fr ] Popular Unity Party 236,9555.01
Ahmed Inoubli Unionist Democratic Union 179,7263.80
Ahmed Brahim Ettajdid Movement 74,2571.57
Total4,729,649100.00
Valid votes4,729,64999.84
Invalid/blank votes7,7180.16
Total votes4,737,367100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,296,00889.45
Source: POGAR

Parliament

In the Chamber of Deputies election, the Democratic Constitutional Rally, which had governed continuously from Tunisia's independence from France in 1956 until the Tunisian Revolution, won 84.59% of the vote and 161 seats. [5] [6] The Movement of Socialist Democrats won 16 seats with 4.63% of the vote, the Popular Unity Party won 12 seats and 3.39% of votes, The Unionist Democratic Union won 9 seats with 2.56%. [6] The remaining 16 seats were divided between the Social Liberal Party, who won eight seats, the Green Party for Progress, who won six and the Movement Ettajdid who won two seats. [6]

Tunisian Parliament 2009.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Democratic Constitutional Rally 3,754,55984.59161+9
Movement of Socialist Democrats 205,3744.6316+2
Popular Unity Party 150,6393.3912+1
Unionist Democratic Union 113,7732.569+2
Social Liberal Party 99,4682.248+6
Green Party for Progress 74,1851.676New
Ettajdid Movement 22,2060.502−1
Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties 5,3290.120New
Progressive Democratic Party 1,4120.0300
Independent lists 11,5520.2600
Total4,438,497100.00214+25
Valid votes4,438,49799.80
Invalid/blank votes8,8910.20
Total votes4,447,388100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,974,70789.40
Source: POGAR

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