Tunisia sets new date for Constituent Assembly's elections

Tunisia sets new date for Constituent Assembly's elections

2011-06-08 23:48:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

TUNIS (BNO NEWS) -- The Tunisian caretaker government on Wednesday announced that the Constituent Assembly's elections will take place on October 23, over three months after the original date, the state-run TAP news agency reported.

The announcement was made by Interim Prime Minister Béji Caïd Essebsi during a meeting in the capital city Tunis. The elections for the National Constituent Assembly were originally set for July 24 by caretaker President Foued Mebazaa.

However, the High Independent Authority for the Elections postponed the Constituent Assembly's elections until October due to technical and logistic reasons. In addition, protests and strikes have been staged across the North African country.

"It is urgently necessary to break for good with all forms of strikes and protests ahead of the holding of democratic, free and transparent elections next October 23," said caretaker PM Essebsi.

For the upcoming elections, the Interior Ministry has granted licenses to eight new political parties. In this way, the authorized political parties in Tunisia reached 21; twelve of them approved this year.

The Constituent Assembly's elections were considered as the point of transition for Tunisia following the Tunisian Revolution that ousted former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali after weeks of violent protests nationwide.

"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 Mebazaa last March.

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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