Demonstrators on Saturday demanded Kais Saied step down as they marked the anniversary of 2011 revolution

Thousands of protesters in central Tunis have marched against the seizure of near total power by the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, demanding he step down as they marked the anniversary of a key date in the 2011 revolution that brought democracy.

The central Habib Bourguiba avenue, the traditional site for major demonstrations, was crowded with thousands of protesters waving Tunisian flags, amid chants of “the people demand the fall of the regime”.

Fall in votes follows President Kais Saied’s suspension of legislature and redrawing of country’s political map

Tunisia has been plunged into political uncertainty after it recorded the lowest electoral turnout in its recent history following President Kais Saied’s suspension of parliament and subsequent redrawing of the country’s political map.

Its main opposition alliance called on Saied to “leave immediately” as voters overwhelmingly snubbed the the legislative election in what officials at the country’s Instance Supérieure Indépendante pour les Élections (ISIE) said was a participation rate of 8.8%.

Opposition groups are boycotting vote that one prominent party leader describes as ‘a still-born farce’

Tunisians have gone to the polls to elect a new parliament, 11 years to the day since a vendor’s self-immolation sparked the fall of their ruling tyrant and triggered a wave of popular revolts across north Africa and the Middle East.

In the troubled decade since, other regional states that once cracked under the strain of popular revolts have been increasingly smothered by counterrevolutions that clawed back civic gains and political freedoms championed by their citizens.

Electoral commission – controlled by President Kais Saied – says 95% voted yes in constitutional referendum, which was boycotted by opposition groups

Tunisian president Kais Saied has celebrated the almost certain victory of the yes vote in a referendum on a new constitution that hands him wide-ranging powers and risks the return of authoritarian rule in the birthplace of the Arab spring.

Preliminary results for the vote, held a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in what rivals have called a coup, were due late on Tuesday, with a full tally not expected until next month. However, according to an exit poll taken by the Sigma Conseil institute, an overwhelming 92-93% of those who voted on Monday supported the new constitution.

Low turnout suggests voters unconcerned by Kais Saied’s new constitution, which some say marks the end of the Arab spring

Tunisians were on Monday expected to approve giving the president unfettered powers, ending the country’s stumbles towards democratic rule and capping the turbulent decade across the region known as the Arab spring.

As voters trickled to the polls for the referendum, the country that birthed the revolts that rocked the Middle East seemed resigned to a return to pre-revolution autocracy, with a declining economy and political sclerosis sounding the death knell for hopes of widespread reform and free elections that would empower citizens.

Kais Saied acts after parliament votes to repeal decrees he used to assume near total power

Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, has issued a decree dissolving parliament, which has been suspended since last year, after it defied him by voting to repeal decrees he had used to assume near total power.

Speaking after an online session of more than half the parliament members, their first since he suspended the chamber in July, Saied accused them of a failed coup and a conspiracy against state security and ordered investigations into them.