Law professor Kais Saied is poised to become Tunisia’s next leader after he achieved a resounding victory in a presidential run-off that could chart a new course for the young democracy, according to exit polls.

Carried by a wave of support from Tunisian youth, the independent academic defeated his opponent, business mogul Nabil Karoui, by upwards of 1.5 million votes, projections showed, sending a clear message that Tunisians had chosen a new path away from traditional politics, analysts said.

“Saied was popular precisely because he did not have a party or a well-funded campaign,” Sharan Grewal, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The Telegraph.

“That fed into his image as an honest, incorruptible man and gave him the credibility to launch an anti-corruption agenda.”

Mr Saied, a conservative jurist who advocates decentralisation of governance and strengthening ties with Tunisia’s Arab and African neighbours, won over 70 per cent of the vote, projections showed, drawing on support from students and youth, as well as many Islamists and Leftists.

After his projected win, Mr Saied said that youth had helped “turn a new page” and promised to “try to build a new Tunisia.