Electoral Commission: Tunisian Election Had 8.8% Turnout

Only 8.8% of eligible voters participated in Tunisia's parliamentary election on Saturday, according to the chairman of the electoral commission, who also stated that 803,000 people, or roughly, cast ballots.

The majority of Tunisian political parties boycotted the election because they disapproved of the constitutional justification for it and the electoral law that supervised it.

Additionally, they decried the results as the pinnacle of President Kais Saied's march toward one-man rule.

A turnout of approximately 40% was required to elect Tunisia's former parliament, which Saied disbanded last year as he attempted to rule by decree in actions his detractors dubbed a coup.

Saied's detractors will use the extremely low turnout for a mostly ineffective parliament that is expected to be dominated by independents without a clear purpose to cast doubt on the validity of his political reforms.

As the government struggles with the necessity to enact unpopular economic measures like subsidy cuts in order to seek an international rescue of state finances, that may become a bigger challenge for the president.