With more than half the votes counted in their presidential election, Tunisians have rejected established leaders in favor of a little-known law professor and a media mogul jailed on suspicion of tax evasion.
Kais Saied and Nabil Karoui appear certain to advance to a runoff vote next month as they lead the 24 other candidates, among them the prime minister, two former prime ministers, a former president and the defense minister. The preliminary result represents a sharp rebuke of elected governments that have struggled to improve living standards or to end graft, after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution introduced democracy and inspired the “Arab Spring.”
Karoui has for years used his Nessma television station and the charity he founded after his son died to present himself as a champion of the poor, while his critics describe him as an ambitious, unscrupulous, populist, Reuters reports. He denies all claims of wrongdoing against him, including old tax-evasion and money-laundering charges.
Saied had spent so little on his campaign that Tunisians joke that it had cost him no more than a coffee and packet of cigarettes.