Kais Saied, a political outsider, has won Tunisia’s second free and fair presidential election since the Arab Spring in a landslide, securing 2.7 million votes – or 72.71% of the popular vote.

The electoral commission, ISIE, said turnout was 55 percent, slightly lower from an initial figure of 58 percent announced Sunday after the runoff.

Around 90 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds voted for Saied, according to estimates by the Sigma polling institute, compared with 49.2 percent of voters over 60.

According to Tunisian law, the results can still be appealed within two weeks before the new president is sworn in at the end of the month.

The Islamic leaning party, Ennahda, congratulated Saied on the victory, saying in a statement that his win was a “step towards consolidating democracy and achieving the aims of the revolution”.

Youssef Cherif, a political analyst who specialises in North African affairs, said Saied’s win had revived the high hopes that followed the Arab Spring. “Saied defied all odds by getting so many votes without a clear programme, without seriously campaigning, without a political party and by being simply an idea many young and educated people could gather around.

“Today he represents a revival of the hopes of the Arab Spring – hopes of change, justice and dignity.”

In the run up for the election, Saied presented robust economic, domestic and foreign policies during the two-hour-debate, including a desire to end the war in neighbouring Libya and a rejection of normalising ties with Israel.

Sami Hamdi, a Tunisia analyst and editor-in-chief of International Interest, stated, “Saied is the anti-system candidate, but he oversees a badly divided parliament within which he himself has no representatives. It remains to be seen how he will deliver on the hope he has instilled in large numbers of young voters who voted for him”.