Parliamentary election in Tunisia
A voter casts his ballot at a polling station during parliamentary election in Tunis, Tunisia December 17, 2022. Reuters

Runoffs will be held in most Tunisian regions after only 21 candidates secured victory in the first round of parliamentary elections, the electoral commission said on Monday, following the controversial vote marked by a very low turnout.

Only 8.8% of Tunisian voters cast ballots in Saturday's parliamentary elections, the country's electoral commission announced, after most political parties boycotted the vote as a charade to shore up President Kais Saied's power.

"The preliminary data of legislative elections show the victory of 21 candidates from the first round ... the second round of these elections will include 133 districts", Mohamed Tlili Mansri, the spokesperson of electoral commission said.

He added that the runoff will be on Jan. 20.

Under the new constitution drafted by Saied and approved by a referendum last July, the new parliament will have very limited powers.

With the main parties absent, a total of 1,058 candidates - only 120 of them women - were running for 161 seats.

For 10 of those - seven in Tunisia and three decided by expatriate voters - there is just one candidate. A further seven of the seats decided by expatriate voters have no candidates running at all.

The election was part of a series of political changes made by Saied after he shut down the previous parliament last year, in moves his critics have called a coup.

After the turnout figures were announced, major parties, among them the Salvation Front, which includes the Islamist Ennahda party and its arch-rival, the Free Constitutional Party, said Saied had no legitimacy and should step down, calling for massive protests.