Tunisian president elected in landslide to fifth term (Roundup)

Tunis/Paris - Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was elected to a fifth term with almost 90 per cent of the vote, the Tunisian Interior Ministry announced Monday. With all the votes counted from Sunday's election, the 73-year-old Ben Ali was credited with 89.62 per cent of the vote, the first time he has received less than 90 per cent in an election. In 2004, Ben Ali had garnered 94.48 per cent, after receiving more than 99 per cent in the previous poll. Two candidates viewed as friendly to the regime, Popular Unity Party (PUP) head Mohamed Bouchiha and Ahmed Inoubli of the Unionist Democratic Union (UDU), drew 5.01 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively. Ahmed Brahim, the only candidate considered to represent a real opposition to the president, came in last with only 1.57 per cent of the vote. Ben Ali has ruled Tunisia for 22 years, and there was never any doubt about the outcome of the vote, especially after the major opposition Progressive Democratic Party announced a poll boycott, charging that the election process was being manipulated. The party had been blocked from competing in 17 districts after authorities ruled its applications ineligible. In addition, another key opposition figure withdrew his candidacy just weeks before the election in protest against the conditions surrounding the election. Unless Ben Ali amends the Constitution, as he has done once before, this will be his final term, as no one over the age of 75 is allowed to run for the office of president. Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally Party (RDC) also did well in parliamentary elections, receiving more than 80 per cent of the votes in many electoral districts, according to the Tunisia Online News. The RDC ended up winning 161 of the 214 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, with the remaining 53 seats to be allotted proportionally among the remaining parties. During the campaign, Ben Ali had promised to fight unemployment and raise per-capita income by 40 per cent. Tunisia is considered the most stable country in the Arab world. It has economic growth of about 3 per cent and, in contrast to neighbouring Algeria, has not been troubled much by Islamist extremists. Critics, however, complain of repression and human rights abuses, particularly in regard to the political opposition.