Tunisia Presidential Runoff Election Set

Tunisia’s electoral commission confirmed Tuesday that law professor Kais Saied and detained media mogul Nabil Karoui won the most votes in this week’s presidential election, beating major political leaders to advance to a runoff. Saied garnered 18.4 percent of the ballots and Karoui 15.6 percent. Analysts are construing Sunday’s vote as a sharp rebuke of the political establishment that has dominated Tunis since the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions. Many Tunisians are dissatisfied with the slow progress to reform the economy and blame previous governments of failing to address high unemployment and inflation. Saied and Karoui beat out 22 other candidates, including the current prime minister and defense minister, two former premiers and a former president. The runoff is expected to take place early next month, and no later than October 23.