Tunisia - (AFP) - The Tunisian General Labor Union called on Wednesday for a roadmap to "save" the country from the crisis, after a large abstention in the legislative elections that took place on Saturday, considering this a popular disavowal by President Kais Saied.

"The General Labor Union records a significant decline in the participation rate in the elections, which loses its credibility and legitimacy," said the Secretary-General of the Union, Noureddine Al-Taboubi, in a strongly worded statement published after the meeting of the union's executive office.

The participation rate of 11.22 percent in Saturday's poll is the lowest since the 2011 revolution that overthrew the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and established a democratic system. According to the electoral authority, only about 1,025 million people voted, out of just over nine million registered.

According to the General Labor Union, this participation rate reflects a "clear rejection" of the system that Saeed has sought to establish since July 2021, which has brought nothing but "tragedies and dilemmas."

The General Labor Union indicated that this presidential system, in light of a parliament devoid of privileges, constitutes "a suitable soil for tyranny" and enshrines "the rule of the individual."

And while the General Labor Union described the situation in Tunisia, which is also suffering from a severe economic crisis, as “liable to explode,” it affirmed that it “assumes its national responsibility and contributes with the national forces to saving the country according to clear national goals and a precise road map.”

The opposition called on President Kais Saied to step down after record abstention.

In 2015, the General Labor Union, which is an influential party on the political scene in Tunisia, won the Nobel Peace Prize along with three other Tunisian organizations, for its contribution to the democratic transition in Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring, where democracy seems to be reeling since Said’s monopoly of powers in July 2021.