TUNIS, Oct 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tunisia’s presidential candidate Nabil Karoui received a hero’s welcome as he walked free from jail Wednesday, just days ahead of a runoff against a political newcomer.
Karoui’s release is the latest twist in a shock election dominated by political outsiders in the country whose 2011 revolution sparked a wave of regional uprisings.
His return to the arena as a free man comes at a time of uncertainty for the country hailed as the sole democratic success story of the Arab Spring.
The Court of Cassation’s decision to free Karoui, a business tycoon who has been detained since August over a money laundering probe, comes ahead of Sunday’s final presidential vote.
Despite being behind bars, he won 15.6 percent of votes in the first round of the presidential poll.
The runoff comes as Tunisia appears poised for complex, rowdy negotiations to form a government.
Announced shortly after Karoui’s release, preliminary results of last Sunday’s legislative election showed Islamist-inspired party Ennahda came out on top with 52 out of 217 seats — far short of the 109 needed to govern.
Karoui’s Qalb Tounes party placed second with 38 seats.
The abstention rate was 58.6 percent, nearly double that of the last legislative polls in 2014, despite the post-revolution constitution putting parliament at the heart of political power.
It was a similar sense of rejection of the establishment that catapulted political newcomers Karoui and rival contender conservative law professor Kais Saeid to the lead in the Sept 15 presidential first round.
Saied had announced last weekend he was quitting campaigning in order to avoid an unfair advantage over Karoui.
Previous requests to release Karoui had been turned down and he has branded his arrest as “political”. — NNN-AGENCIES
