TUNIS: Behind the
landslide victory of conservative political outsider Kais Saied in a runoff
presidential vote were millions of young voters, who describe him as a leader
worthy of their trust as Tunisia's democracy takes root. According to a poll by
the Sigma polling institute, around 90 percent of voters aged 18 to 25 voted
for political newcomer Saied, massively shunning his rival, business tycoon
Nabil Karoui.

"In the
first round, I didn't think he would win. But now that he has won I can truly
believe in the transparency of our elections," 20-year-old law student
Mayssa Jlassi told AFP. "We had to everything possible to mobilize all
young people like me to vote en masse" for Saied, she added. Jlassi joined
a volunteer group that went door-to-door, with very modest means, to canvass
for votes for her candidate. Saied, a 61-year-old retired law professor,
scooped 72.71 percent of votes, official results showed.

According to Sigma's
data, Tunisians were sharply divided by age group. The older the voter, the
more likely his or her ballot went to Karoui, who swept up 50.8 percent of the
over-60s' votes. "The main reason for (Saied's) victory was the
extraordinary mobilization of young people aged 18 to 25," said Olfa
Lamloum, director of the Tunis branch of the NGO International Alert, which
works closely with young people. According to Sigma, 37 percent of young voters
cast their ballot for Saied in the September 15 first round -- twice the
national average -- while the disparity was magnified further in Sunday's
runoff.

'Promise of real
democracy'

Despite having
spearheaded the Arab Spring revolt that ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
in 2011, young people had largely shunned the ballot box in previous elections
in Tunisia's new democracy. This time was different. Saied "managed to win
the trust of young people... not with promises but by offering answers to the
failures of representative democracy", Lamloum told AFP.

The
anti-establishment Saied is seen as uptight and unwavering, and beneath his
austere style is a commitment to socially conservative views that many young
people reject. But he has said he will respect the social freedoms enshrined in
law in recent years that civil society groups have hailed as freedoms. And what
his young supporters see in him above all is an honest leader who is offering
them the keys to building Tunisia's future.

Saied has
promised "to challenge the top-down nature of power and to change the
rules of the game of politics, which are the root cause for the exclusion of
young people", Lamloum said. For his acolytes, Saied represents "the
promise of real democracy, dignity, and a break from a political class that is
disconnected from the people and which is obsessed with power and its
privileges", she added.

'Strong trust'

The incoming
president has, in recent years, "established a strong relationship of
trust with young people, by meeting them across the country, thus building for
himself a circle of young people who ran his campaign for him",
sociologist Mohamed Jouili said. French-language daily La Presse welcomed
"a rekindling of interest among young people, from north to south Tunisia,
in voting".

Ultimately, it
was this shift that decided the vote, "and that's great", wrote
M'hamed Jaibi in an editorial. Turnout was 55 percent on Sunday, while just
half of voters cast their ballots in the first round. The October 6
parliamentary vote saw fewer voters still. Young people signed up to vote in an
intense registration campaign. Those aged 18 to 35 now account for 63 percent
of voters, official statistics show.

The electoral
commission has yet to release detailed official indicators of the turnout among
young voters, but all the signs appear to show it was higher than in any of
Tunisia's previous free elections. On voting day, thousands of young people
mobilized, many of them spontaneously, to organize carpools to go to polling
stations. - AFP