2019 Tunisian Presidential Election - Kais Saied declared winner

Independent law professor Kais Saied has won Tunisia's presidential election with 72.71 percent of votes, the country's electoral commission has confirmed.

Saied secured 2.7 million votes against one million received by his opponent, Nabil Karoui, in Sunday's runoff vote, the commission said on Tuesday

Karoui, a business tycoon who was in jail for most of the campaign, conceded defeat earlier on Monday

The electoral commission said turnout stood at 55 percent, higher than during the first round on September 15, in Tunisia's second free presidential election since the 2010-11 uprising that toppled long-standing ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The election was brought forward after the death in July of Tunisia's first democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi.

He took office in 2014, three years after a popular uprising which led to the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring.

Who is Kais Saied?

Nicknamed "the robot" for his stern manner, Mr Saied ran a shrewd campaign, with almost no advertising, on a message of integrity and anti-corruption targeted at young Tunisian voters.

Saied was on the committee of experts that helped parliament draft Tunisia's post-Arab Spring constitution, adopted in 2014. He occasionally appeared on television as a political commentator.
In the week before the polls, he announced that he would not campaign while his rival was in prison.
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He has promised electoral reforms, including changes to local elections for regional representatives.
Critics have attacked his conservative social views, however.

In an interview with a local newspaper, he accused foreign powers of encouraging homosexuality in the country.

He is in favour of restoring the death penalty, suspended since 1994 in Tunisia. He also opposes equal inheritance for men and women.