Ben Ali wins Tunisian presidential elections with 99.4% of vote

Tunisian President Zein al-Abidin Ben Ali was re-elected yesterday for his third five-year term after obtaining than 99% of the total votes cast.

The official results declared by Tunisian Interior Minister Ali Chaouch in a press conference confirmed that the president obtained the majority with 99.44% of the total of the valid votes in the 25 electoral districts.

This is the first multiparty presidential poll to be held in Tunisia since independence from France in 1956

Meanwhile, the second candidate, Mohamed Belhaj Amor, the secretary general of the Popular Unity Party, obtained 0.31% and the third rival, Abdul Rahman al-Talili, the secretary general of the Unionist Democratic Federation, obtained 0.23% of the votes.