Tunisia is preparing for the December 17 legislative elections. The lists of candidates are now closed. They will be just over 1,429 candidates, including only 215 women to compete on the basis of a two-round single-member ballot, which this year will replace the proportional system in force since the 2011 revolution.
400 signatures are necessary to stand as a candidate for the legislative elections of December 17, be 23 years old, of Tunisian nationality and have a clean criminal record, but without the obligation to appear on the list of a political party, a new system which considerably reduces partisan representation within the future Parliament.
If the campaign for legislative candidacies went somewhat unnoticed in Tunisia, because of the burning socio-economic news, more than a thousand candidates presented files to become the future deputies of the new Tunisian Parliament, in power restricted and with 161 elected officials expected instead of the 217 of the previous mandates.
Mess-ups
Among the candidates, there are media and political personalities, supporters of Kaïs Saïed, certain former deputies, but also people without political experience, from civil society, like this candidate in Sousse, in the east of the country, Hamdi Ben Salah, freelance journalist who revealed the scandal of Italian waste illegally imported in 2020 at the city’s port.
Misunderstandings marred the period for submitting applications with an extension of the deadline decided at the last moment and accusations of offenses and attempts to buy sponsorships, also denounced by President Kaïs Saïed himself.
He had once considered amending the electoral law again before retracting. But today, the legislative machinery is well underway. The majority of opposition political parties have not presented a candidate and are already calling for a boycott.
