Tunisian interim government maintains July election

Tunisian interim government maintains July election

2011-05-25 02:45:32 GMT+7 (ICT)

TUNIS (BNO NEWS) -- Tunisia's interim government on Tuesday announced it will maintain the date of July 24 for the election of the country's constituent assembly, the state-run press agency TAP reported.

Following a cabinet meeting, cabinet spokesman Taieb Baccouche released a communiqué, saying the government vowed to provide "all material, human, administrative and technical means" to guarantee that elections will be held on the agreed-on date.

The chairman of the election commission, Kamel Jendoubi, on Sunday suggested to postpone the election from July 24 to October 16, citing procedural and security reasons.

In early March, Interim President Foued Mebazaa announced the election date and said the upcoming elections will witness the establishment of a special electoral system in Tunisia.

"The implementation of this system will finalize the work for the next period, with a view to meeting the expectations of the Tunisian people, and remaining faithful to the memory of the brave martyrs, which would reverberate across the world the authentic image of the Tunisian Revolution, and grant it its higher place in human civilization," said the interim leader.

The Interior Ministry announced that eight new political parties were granted licenses. In this way, the authorized political parties in Tunisia reached 21; twelve of them approved this year.

In January, former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted after weeks of violent protests over economic issues. The United Nations estimated that approximately 219 people were killed during the Tunisian mass unrest that began in mid-December. Most of them died after security forces were ordered to fire at them. 

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