Tunisian President Ben Ali Wins Landslide

TUNIS, Tunisia - Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali won a landslide re-election victory, according to official results Monday that opponents denounced as "worthless" and a sham.

Ben Ali, 68, was elected to a fourth term with 95 percent of the vote, according to complete results published by the Interior Ministry. The ministry said that 92 percent of Tunisia's 4.6 million eligible voters cast ballots.

Supporters of the president praised the vote as transparent and proof of Tunisia's democratic process.

Ben Ali has ruled Tunisia for 17 years since taking power in a 1987 bloodless palace coup. He has consistently won landslide electoral victories tainted by charges of fraud _ the official tally from the 1999 poll gave him 99.4 percent of the vote.

"We refuse these results, which are worthless," Mohamed Ali Halouani, one of Ben Ali's three challengers, said after results came in Monday. He won 1 percent of votes.

Halouani, of Ettajdid, the former Communist Party, called the election a "manipulation," saying that vote counting was held in "great secrecy, our observers were denied access."

Mohamed Bouchiha of the Popular Unity Party finished with nearly 4 percent of the vote, and Mounir El Beji of the Liberal Social Party got less than 1 percent.

"Tunisia missed a chance to realize a peaceful democratic change of the head of state," said another opposition leader, Mustapha Ben Jaffar. His party, the Democratic Forum for Liberties and Labor, had boycotted the election, calling it a "non-election."

The United States expressed disappointment Monday that the presidential election in Tunisia was not as democratic as it should have been.

"Our concern was that the opportunities for political participation in this process were not everything we'd hoped for," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in Washington.

Human rights groups also have criticized the government for a closed-door political system that bars dissenters, a tightly controlled press and restrictions on civil liberties.

A moderate Muslim nation of 10 million people wedged between Libya and Algeria, Tunisia is considered a stalwart ally of the West and has been cracking down on Islamic militants for years.

Tunisia often is upheld as a model for North Africa. This tourist-friendly country with Mediterranean beaches and vast deserts has a growing economy and actively promotes gender equality. Tunisian women enjoy rights denied in many other Arab countries, and nearly 54 percent of its university students are female.

Many voters interviewed during Sunday's election said that despite democratic shortcomings, the nation was better off and more stable than its neighbors _ and they thanked Ben Ali for that.

"We don't have a choice, there's no alternative," said Mokhtar, a 29-year-old nurse. "No one other than Ben Ali is ready to be president. Today, the country is stable."

Interior Minister Hedi Mehnni told reporters Monday that the results proved the "unanimity" of support for Ben Ali and "the maturity of Tunisia's democratic process."

It was a "democratic rendezvous carried out in transparency," Mehnni said.

Ben Ali's ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally party will continue to dominate parliament, winning 80 percent of the seats, as predicted. Only 20 percent of the 189 legislative seats were allotted to the opposition's five parties.

Ben Ali's critics say his iron grip is unlikely to loosen anytime soon. They charge he is aiming to become president for life, like Habib Bourguiba, whom he toppled 17 years ago. Bourguiba, founder of modern-day Tunisia, was said to have grown senile.

A revision of the constitution in 2002 allowed unlimited presidential mandates and made possible Ben Ali's run for another five-year term.