/ 26 October 1999

TUNISIA ELECTION SWEEP

TUNISIAN President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was re-elected to a third five-year term with over 99% of the vote in Sunday’s election, according to first results published early Monday. The results issued by the interior ministry at 5am showed Ben Ali, 63, winning between 99,95 and 99,35% of the vote in each of the country’s 25 constituencies. The two opposition candidates, Mohamed Belhaj Amor and Abderrahmane Tlili, received a derisory number of votes. The final result of the country’s first multi-party presidential election is to be published later.