Ben Ali had been re-elected with 94.48 percent of the vote. (AFP)

TUNIS, October 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Several Tunisian opposition and rights leaders Monday, October 25, slammed weekend elections that saw incumbent President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali win a landslide victory for a fourth term as “surreal” and an insult to democratic standards.

“What we witnessed today is surreal,” said Mustapha Benjaafar, head of the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (FDTL) that had called for a boycott of Sunday's presidential and legislative vote, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“It was a parody in which the ruling power rewarded those that stood by it and sanctioned opponents.”

94.48% Victory

“The figures released are characteristic of a totalitarian and monolithic regime,” Chebbi said. (AFP)

Benjaafar was reacting to final figures from the Tunisian Interior Ministry which said Ben Ali, who has been in power for 17 years, had been re-elected with 94.48 percent of the vote even though three other candidates stood against him.

Ben Ali's party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally, also dominated the legislative elections winning 152 seats in the 189-seat parliament. The remaining seats went to the opposition.

Nejib Chebbi, head of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) which had also called for a boycott of the polls, described the elections as a “sham” and a re-enactment of previous polls that also saw the ruling party claim landslide victories.

“The figures released are characteristic of a totalitarian and monolithic regime,” Chebbi said.

Ayachi Hammami, deputy head of the Ettajdid party that had fielded the only serious opposition candidate to Ben Ali, said the results in no way reflected reality.

“We contest these unimaginable results and the ridiculous score of 0.95 percent given to our candidate Mohamed Ali Halouani,” he said.

“These results are an insult to Tunisians’ intelligence and represent a failure rather than a victory for the regime,” Hammami said, adding that the party was considering taking the matter before the Constitutional Council.

Call for Change

“We noted no serious irregularities,” Mhenni said. (AFP)

Mokhtar Trifi, head of the Tunisian League for Human Rights, echoed his comments.

“We want things in this country to change,” Trifi said. “We are living under an undemocratic regime, not to say a dictatorship, and these elections took place in extremely bad conditions.”

But Mohamed Bouchiha, another presidential candidate who stood for the Popular Unity Party and who essentially backed Ben Ali's re-election bid, said he was satisfied with his score of 3.78 percent and the way the elections had unfolded. The remaining presidential candidate, Mounir El Beji of the Social Liberal Party, won 0.79 percent.

“The result is proof that we have an important place in politics and allowed us to break the 99 percent taboo linked to the outcome of previous elections,” said Bouchiha, who is related to the president's wife.

Trifi and others have denounced widespread irregularities during the elections although the government insists the polls took place in full transparency.

Benjaafar said it was essential now for democratic parties to join together in order to present a common front.

“What is most urgent now is for democratic forces to gather,” he said.

According to the Interior Ministry, 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.

Only four days before being held, presidential and legislative elections in Tunisia failed to steal the limelight from the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Ben Ali had claimed 99.4 percent of the vote in the last elections in 1999.

Although rights groups in Tunisia 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 Sunday that they had noted no flagrant irregularities.

“According to preliminary information we found no serious irregularities, just some logistical problems that do not affect the credibility of the polls,” said Ahmed Ben Helli, head of the observer mission.

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, with human rights leaders subjected to sustained government harassment, according to rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

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”.