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Voters go to the polls Sunday in first-ever referendum
Tunis, 25 May 2002 (TunisiaOnline)
About three million and a half Tunisian voters will go to the polls Sunday to take part in the country's first-ever
referendum.
Voters will take position on a constitutional reform bill already voted by the chamber of Deputies on April 2002.
Voting stations will be open on Sunday, May 26, from 8.00 am to 8.00 p.m., two hours longer than previously scheduled
to accommodate voters traveling during the Birthday of the Prophet holiday.
Expatriate nationals have started voting in the referendum on May 18. They cast their votes in a total of 78 stations
around the world.
The referendum will allow Tunisians to decide on a number of constitutional amendments aimed at bolstering civil
liberties and public freedoms, strengthening oversight over the constitutionality of laws and increasing the transparency
of the electoral process. Changes also introduce into the constitution additional guarantees regarding the pre-trial
and preventive custody of defendants. The reform consecrates for the first time the notions of human rights, solidarity,
mutual help and tolerance as part of the values enshrined in the Constitution.
One of the results of the amendment will be the setting up of a second legislative body, to be called " the
chamber of advisers ". This new body will comprise about 120 members, elected for a six year-term. It will
have one third less members than the 182-member chamber of deputies that will continue to play the central role
in the legislative process.
The reform also does away with presidential term limitations while setting a maximum age ceiling of 75 years for
candidacy to the office of president.
For more on the referendum:www.referendum-tunisia.org