In his first appearance after his recent health crisis, Tunisian President Béji Kayed Sibsi signed a presidential decree calling on Tunisians to vote in the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for fall, ending a state of anxiety over several days about the political prospects and scenarios that the country could go through.

"Today there are commitments related to the elections," he said in a televised speech when he signed the decree. "We are a messian, whether it's presidential elections, legislative elections and democratic experiment in general, we have to issue the orders of Bash even voters do their duty."

This step confirms the lack of response to the calls for the postponement of the elections launched by some voices, which were rejected by a wide range of political forces, led by the ruling parties and a number of opposition parties.

The health turmoil at the end of last month has raised fears among Tunisians of complications that could hamper scheduled elections and reflect the entire transitional process.

Seven million voters
For its part, announced the Independent High Electoral Commission in Tunisia on Friday that more than seven million voters registered to vote in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

"We have succeeded in challenging the registration of 1.5 million new voters, but the most important challenge remains to monitor the election campaigns," Nabil Bafoun, president of the organization, told a news conference.

The parliamentary elections will be held in Tunisia on October 6, followed by the presidential elections on 17 November.

During last Ramadan, the Electoral Commission launched a propaganda campaign in an attempt to persuade young people to register for the elections. The number of registered voters was 5.7 million from a total of 8.9 million voters.

Some 455,898 new voters registered for parliamentary elections - 54 percent of them women - according to statistics released by the agency on Friday.

The age group 18-35, the largest percentage of new voters on the election lists, was 63%.