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TUNISIA: Municipal elections, on Sunday 28 May 2000

On Sunday, 28 May 2000, Tunisians went to the polls to choose their new 4,144 representatives in the country's 257 municipal councils.

A total of 339 opposition and independent candidates are running in the elections. The governing Democratic Constitutional Rally is running in all 257 districts. Five opposition parties and independents are running in 64 districts.

Electoral slates are as follows:

- 257 slates for the "Democratic Constitutional Rally", majority party.
- 25 slates for the "Movement of Socialist Democrats", opposition party.
- 14 slates for PUP "Party of Popular Unity", opposition party.
- 13 slates for the "Unionist Democratic Union", opposition party.
- 5 slates for the "Liberal Social Party", opposition party.
- 3 slates for "Ettajdid Movement", opposition party.
- 22 independent slates.


Based on recent amendments of Electoral Code , a ceiling of 80% of the seats was etsablished for any slate which gets the majority of the votes. this guarantees non-winning saltes that they can garner at least 20% of the seats, provided they win a minimum of 3% of the vote.

According to a recently adopted amendment of the Election Code, every voter must choose among ballot papers only in the privacy of the polling booth. This provision is aimed at further guaranteeing the secrecy of the vote.

On the recommendation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, at least 20% of the seats to be won by the governing Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) must go to women candidates. About 21 percent of the candidates on the RCD slates are women. The RCD is fielding candidates in all the 257 municipal races while opposition and independent candidates are running in 64 of such races.

TUNISIA: Municipal elections of 28 May 2000

Overview


On Sunday 28 May 2000, Tunisians will elect for a five-year term councilors for the 257 municipalities in Tunisia. There are 4,144 town councilors, as against 4,090 for the 21 May 1995 elections.

This election will further strengthen the democratic process and widen the field of women's political participation at the local level, after the consolidation of the multi-party system in the 24 October 1999 legislative elections.

These municipal elections are characterized by a certain number of features:

At least 20% of the seats will go to the slates that did not win a majority of votes (if they get at least 3% of the votes cast), on the basis of the amendments made to the Electoral Code encouraging the opposition's entry into town councils.
In his 7 November 1997 speech to mark the 10th anniversary of his coming to power, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stated:" Our concern for advancing the multi-party system is equally strong in the case of the municipal councils, and we shall strive to promote it there during the next municipal elections, particularly by imposing a limit on the list which obtains the largest number of votes, a measure which should ensure the other lists of a minimum number of seats equal to at least 20% of the whole. Where there is only one competing list, it is even conceivable that that list could obtain 20% of the seats despite a large gap between that list and the list that has come first."

· The secrecy of voting and hence the transparency of the electoral process in guaranteed by virtue of electoral amendments making it obligatory for every voter to take all ballot papers before entering the polling booth. In the inauguration speech he delivered on 15 November 1999 before the Chamber of Deputies, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali announced that a bill would be submitted to Parliament to make it an "obligation for every voter to take all the ballot papers with him before entering the polling booth".

In its 14 March 2000 session, the Chamber of Deputies discussed and passed an amendment to the Electoral Code (paragraph 1 of Article 48) making it obligatory for every voter to take "a ballot paper for each slate of candidates, and, without leaving the polling station, to enter the polling booth in order to put the ballot paper of his/her choice in the envelope reserved for it". (The previous provisions gave the voter the choice, before entering the polling booth, of taking or not taking a copy of each of the ballot papers offered by the candidates).

* On the initiative of President Ben Ali, at least 20% of the seats to be won by the RCD (Democratic Constitutional Rally) will go to women. This means that women will take at least one-fifth of the town council seats won by the RCD. Indeed, in his speech marking the opening of the campaign for the October 1999 presidential and legislative elections, the Head of State announced that in the 2000 municipal elections "we shall work to give women the chance of taking at least 20% of the seats in the municipal councils". At present, 16.7% of town councilors are women.

A total 82 electoral slates of opposition and independent parties are entering the fray alongside the RCD slates in 64 municipal electoral constituencies. Opposition and independent party slates are running in over 80% of the country's governorates and nearly 25% of electoral constituencies. Over 20% of all candidates are women.

Of a total of 353 slates presented by candidates , 339 slates were found legally valid. These slates are as follows:

- RCD (Democratic Constitutional Rally): 257 slates covering all the electoral districts.
- MDS (Movement of Socialist Democrats) : 25 slates
- PUP (Party of Popular Unity): 14 slates
- UDU (Unionist Democratic Union): 13 slates
- PSL (Liberal Social Party): 5 slates
- Ettajdid Movement: 3 slates
- Independent: 22 slates

TUNISIA: Municipal elections of 28 May 2000

Backgrounder


On Sunday 28 May 2000, Tunisians went for the 12th time since Tunisia's independence in 1956 to the polls to vote for town councilors. There are 4,144 council members to be chosen for Tunisia's 257 municipalities .

Who can stand as candidate?

- All voters, male and female, of at least 23 years of age on the day of their standing as candidates, are eligible as council members
- Every slate is made up of a group of candidates who collectively state that they agree to be on the same slate.
- Unless they have previously resigned from their office or responsibilities, all governors, magistrates, principal delegates, secretaries general of governorates, and heads of sector, accountants, engineers, employees, civil servants and agents of the governorate or delegation, are not allowed to stand as candidates.

Duration of mandate of town councilors:

Town councilors are elected for a period of five years. They can be reelected.

Voting in municipal elections:

Members of the town councils will be elected on one ballot, on a slate system, with proportional representation.
Article 127 of the Electoral Code (modified in November 1998) states that:
- If there is one slate only, it gets all the seats, whatever the number of votes obtained.
- If there is more than one slate, the slates to which seats can be attributed are those which obtained at least 3% of the votes cast in the constituency. The seats are allotted between them as follows:
A. 50% of seats to the slate with the highest number of votes
B. The rest of the seats (50%) to all the slates according to proportional representation, on the basis of the strongest...

By virtue of this distribution, no slate can have more than 80% of the seats. Thus, a ceiling of 80% of the seats is established for any majority slate. This guarantees that the other candidates, with at least 3% of the votes, can earn a minimum of 20% of the seats , provided they receive at least 3% of the vote.

How to stand for election?

Candidacies for election were made between Sunday 7 May 2000 and Sunday 13 May 2000 inclusive, from 8.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. without a break, at the seat of the governorate or the delegation of the constituency.

The electoral campaign:

The electoral campaign went on from Sunday 21 May 2000(00 hours) until Friday 26 May 2000 (midnight). Each slate of candidates for the municipal elections can be reimbursed for costs of printing ballot papers and electoral posters.

Who can vote ?

All Tunisian men and women aged twenty with Tunisian nationality, resident in Tunisia, enjoying their civil and political rights and possessing an elector's card may vote. This card is given to anyone on the electoral roll, which is permanent, and which is brought up to date every year, or if necessary is exceptionally revised. In fact, an exceptional revision of the electoral roll was decided by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for the period from 9 to 13 May 2000, in order to give a new opportunity for citizens who were not on the roll to get their elector's card and fulfill their electoral duty. Since May 1st, 2000, elector's cards have been delivered to citizens on the electoral roll. The validity of this card ends on April 30, 2004.

Foreign observers:

As for the presidential and legislative elections of 24 October 1999, foreign observers have every liberty to follow the municipal elections at every stage.

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