The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) has completed the first phase of updating electoral data and will move on to the second phase, which will last until December 8, its president Farouk Bouasker said Saturday. He called on Tunisians to use all available means to check the polling stations and update the data in the permanent and mobile offices set up for this purpose. For his part, Ridha Missaoui, executive chairman of the ISIE, said that the electoral body had contacted more than 1.6 million households, or almost 45% of the total number of households in the country. He pointed out that the ISIE had adopted a communication strategy, implemented in cooperation with various media partners and local and regional civil society, in order to facilitate communication. The results of the first phase of updating showed more than 480,000 updates, an average of 20,000 per day, he said, adding that the number of registered voters now stands at 9 million and 160 thousand. Regarding the period for receiving applications, Missaoui said that the ISIE had granted a 10-day period, the longest period granted by the electoral commission in relation to all previous elections, he added. According to the Executive Chairman, 27 centres have been opened in all regions to receive these candidacies. On another level, he pointed out that the ISIE had opened the way for applications for accreditation to observe the elections. As of last Friday, 917 applications had been received, including 320 journalists and 597 observers. Missaoui said the accreditation applications would be closed at the end of the last week before the elections.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse