Tunisia

Tunisia to hold autumn parliamentary and presidential elections

cde.news desk 7 March 2019, 06:15 · 1 min read

epa07183160 People protest during a general strike in Tunis, Tunisia, 22 November 2018. Some 670 thousand civil servants went on strike on 22 November 2018 after the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) and the Tunisia government failed to reach an agreement to increase the salaries by the government. Protesters said that the loan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Tunisia was one of the main factors of the government refusal. Tunisia agreed in 2016 a 2.8 billion US dollars loan from the IMF. The general strike included all public sectors subjected to the civil service law, with minimum level of service guaranteed in vital sectors like emergency services. EPA-EFE/STR

Reuters reports that the Tunisian Electoral Commission, ISIE, announced that parliamentary and presidential elections will be held on October 6th and November 10 respectively.

They will be the third set of polls in which Tunisians can vote freely following the 2011 revolution that toppled autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Main contenders in the parliamentary race are expected to be the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the more secular Tahya Tounes party of Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, and the Nidaa Tounes party led by Hafedh Caid Essebsi, the president’s son.

Currently they are in a government coalition but this has been hampered by infighting.

Via Reuters

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Tunisia to hold autumn parliamentary and presidential elections

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