Exit polls indicate Kais Saied won Tunisia presidential election

Tunisian polling agencies are forecasting that conservative law professor Kais Saied has overwhelmingly won the North African country’s presidential election.

Saied’s supporters exploded with joy, celebrating on the main boulevard of Tunis even though official results from Sunday’s runoff vote aren’t expected until Tuesday. It’s only Tunisia’s second democratic presidential election since it overthrew a dictator in the 2011 Arab Spring pro-democracy uprising.

Polls carried in Tunisian media by Sigma Conseil and Emhrod Consulting forecast that Saied would come out on top with between 72% and 77% of the vote. Rival Nabil Karoui, who was in jail for most of the campaign, was projected to win between 23% and 27%.

Saied, 61, is an independent outsider but is supported by moderate Islamist party Ennahdha, which won last week’s parliamentary elections. He promised to hand more power to young people and local governments.

Via France 24