Tunisians head to the polls in elections

Tunisians began voting today to elect a new President and parliament in a race expected to achieve another landslide victory for Zine El Abidine Ben Ali despite timid measures by authorities to let the nascent opposition have its say.

Mr Ben Ali is running for a fifth five-year term, having taken power in a bloodless palace coup in 1987 that authorities dub “The Change”.

He was last re-elected in 2004 with more than 94% of votes – a drop from his previous victories, in which he achieved between 99.2 and 99.7%.

Though the campaign ended on Friday, Mr Ben Ali took the unusual step of going on national television late last night to attack any Tunisian who might criticise the elections as unbalanced or fraudulent.