Tunisia's main opposition coalition says the country's president Cais Kais Saied should step down after less than 9% of voters participated in the parliamentary elections, the BBC reports.

The head of the National Salvation Front said Saturday's vote was a "fiasco" and called for mass protests demanding early presidential elections.

Most opposition parties boycotted the vote.

They accuse Kais of reversing the democratic progress made since the 2011 uprising, which the president denies.

After sacking the prime minister and suspending parliament in July 2021, a year later Saied passed a new constitution enshrining his sole rule, following a vote that was also boycotted by the main opposition parties.

The new constitution replaced one drafted shortly after the 2011 Arab Spring.

Saied, 64, says such powers were necessary to break the cycle of political paralysis and economic decline.

Tunisian electoral authorities reported Saturday that 8.8 percent of the roughly nine million electorate voted in the parliamentary elections.

The National Salvation Front, a coalition of several political parties, also called for mass rallies and sit-ins.

President Saied has not yet made any public comment on the issue.