Public split in response to referendum

While Tunisians will have to wait until August 28 for the final official results of yesterday’s referendum, they are already sharply split over its meaning for the country’s future.

A Sigma Conseil exit poll issued in the wee hours by state TV shows that the 25%.of registered voters who participated backed the measure to invest nearly all powers in the presidency of President Kais Saied by 92.3%.

Saied put the new framework for his governance forward as part of the procedures he has been implementing for a year to change the country’s political scene.

Supporters of the 64-year-old retired law professor say the constitution is an essential step to overcoming the country’s current political and economic crisis. But Raja Jabri, head of the Mourakiboun Network Association, a leading election observation group, told A24 that a dangerous concentration of power in the presidency hinders real change needed by the Tunisian people.