Tunisian President Zine AlAbidine Ben Ali won reelection for a fourth term by an overwhelming margin in a vote denounced on Monday as "surreal" and an insult to democracy by several opposition leaders.
According to final figures announced by the interior ministry, Ben Ali garnered 94.48 percent of the Sunday vote while his three challengers combined won barely 6 percent.
Turnout among the country's 4.6 million registered voters was put at 91.5 percent.
Interior minister Hedi Mhenni underlined in a statement to reporters that the polls had taken place in democratic fashion and an atmosphere of transparency.
"We noted no serious irregularities," he said.
French President Jacques Chirac sent a congratulatory message to Ben Ali wishing him success in his "ambitious action in favor of progress in Tunisia," the national news agency TAP reported.
Several opposition leaders, however, described the outcome as a sham.
"The only difference in these elections as opposed to the previous ones is that the president limited his score to 95 percent rather than the usual 99 percent," said Muhammad Ali Halwani, the only serious contender to Ben Ali who stood for the Ettajdid (Renewal) party and who won barely 1 percent of the vote, adding that the party planned to contest the results before the Constitutional Council.
Ben Ali, who has maintained a tight grip on the north African country for 17 years, has won landslide victories in successive elections seen abroad as lacking any credibility, and claimed 99.4 percent of the vote in the last elections in 1999.
"These results are an insult to Tunisians' intelligence and represent a failure rather than a victory for the regime," said Ayachi Hammami, spokesman for a coalition of left-wing movements grouped under a so-called "democratic initiative," to which Halwani's party belongs.
Two opposition parties that boycotted the vote also denounced the elections as a farce.
"The figures released are characteristic of a totalitarian and monolithic regime," said Nejib Chebbi, head of the Progressive Democratic Party.
Mustafa Benjaafar, head of the Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties, described Ben Ali's score as "surreal" and said the elections marked "a missed opportunity" for the country.
But Muhammad Bouchiha, another presidential candidate who stood for the Popular Unity Party and who essentially backed Ben Ali's reelection bid, said he was satisfied with his score of 3.78 percent. The remaining presidential candidate, Mounir Al Beji of the Social Liberal Party, won 0.79 percent.
Ben Ali's party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally, also dominated the legislative elections on Sunday winning 152 seats in the 189-seat parliament, according to official results. The remaining seats went to five opposition parties.
In a bid to ensure plurality, the ruling party by law cannot hold more than 80 percent of seats in parliament and the opposition is ensured at least 20 percent.
Although rights groups here and abroad had denounced the elections as being rigged in advance, Ben Ali's government insisted that it had gone to great lengths to ensure transparency.
Ten observers from the Arab League who oversaw the elections said late on Sunday that they had noted no flagrant irregularities.
Halwani, however, said widespread violations had been recorded, the most flagrant being the secret way in which the ballot counting had taken place.
Witnesses also reported seeing voters illegally casting ballots for neighbors or friends. In one case a man was seen by this reporter at a polling station with five electoral cards. He said he was voting for his entire family.
Ben Ali swept to power in 1987 after ousting president-for-life Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup. He has since maintained a tight control over the press and prevented any real dissent.
Critics say the country escaped the reproaches heaped on other repressive regimes in the area because its allies - in Europe and the United States - tend to focus on Tunisia's sound economic performance and its success in containing radical Islamic activism.
AFP
Tunisian president wins 'surreal' reelection
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