The run-off local elections saw a “slow” voting pace, as did the first round, said member of Mourakiboun’s steering committee, Soumaia El Kamel.
Speaking at a press conference held on Monday in Tunis, El Kamel said that the weak electoral momentum was mainly due to the general climate and environment in which the local elections were held,. The runb-off local elections and the electoral issue in general “are now of interest only to those involved in this process, namely the elections authority, the candidates and some civil society components”.
The failure to promulgate a law defining the local councils’ prerogatives is among the main issues still giving rise to wide debate, given its contradiction with common sense and legal principles, she added.
In this respect, the official called for the need to speed up the drafting of this law, which will make it possible to overcome several shortcomings.
“The run-off elections is further proof of poor organisation, marked by numerous shortcomings related to legal
choices and poor technique, especially the lack of a legal text governing local councils and the lack of participation in the vote”, she indictaed.
As for the election day, El Kamel said that the opening, voting and counting procedures had been respected, and that no serious violations had been logged at any of the polling stations.
According to Mourakiboun, no candidate representatives were present in 46% of polling stations when they opened, nor were they present in 39% of polling stations during the voting process, and 34% of polling stations did not record the presence of a candidate representative during the counting and tallying process.
Mourakiboun’s observers further logged a set of violations, in particular attempts to influence or put pressure on voters and the continuation of election campaigns near polling centres.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse