Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Hayouni revealed yesterday that 70,000 security personnel will participate in securing the voting process for early presidential elections today, in addition to the 32,000 military announced by the Ministry of Defense.
Spokesman Khaled Hayouni said that of the 70,000 security personnel, 50,000 will be mobilized to secure polling stations, participate in the transfer of electoral materials, and protect and monitor all 24 presidential candidates during their activities and visits.
Hayouni said that 20,000 security will ensure the normal functioning of the rest of the security tasks, along with the election date, including the provision of public facilities, public and commercial squares, the transport sector and hospitals, and the fight against terrorism and crime.
Security will also transport ballot boxes to 27 collection and counting centers across the country.
Some 7 million voters are heading to more than 4,500 polling stations in Tunisia to elect their next president from 24 candidates in the country's second democratic presidential election, the fourth overall since its political transition began in 2011, including the National Constituent Assembly elections. In 2011, then legislative and presidential in 2014, and the municipality in 2018.
"We have taken into account all possible risks, and we have devoted all possible means to intervene," Hayyouni said. "The task of security will be protection and insurance in total neutrality. They have received in-depth training since 2011."
The spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Mohamed Zakri, earlier told the local media, mobilized 32 thousand military to secure the headquarters of the Electoral Commission, the vicinity of polling stations, and to ensure the transfer of electoral materials.
Zekri said the military units would also play their part in securing the border and countering all attempts to prejudice Tunisian soil.
Polling stations open today at 8 am local time (0700 GMT) and close at 6 pm.
Tunisia entered a period of electoral silence yesterday, a day before the start of the presidential election.
Hours before the start of the electoral silence, two presidential candidates decided on Friday evening to withdraw from the presidential race in Tunisia, in order not to distract the votes and to strengthen the fortunes of independent candidate Abdelkarim Zbeidi.
The two retired candidates, the head of the Tunis Project, Mohsen Marzouk, and the head of the Tunisian Amal Movement, who are being prosecuted on charges of financial corruption, called on Salim Riahi, who is in exile, to vote for independent candidate Abdelkarim al-Zubaidi in the "national interest."
Zubaidi is the last defense minister in the Tunisian government, before resigning after his candidacy for the presidential elections. Trade union in the country.
These "tactical" withdrawals from the presidential race to the Carthage palace will reduce the dispersion of the votes of the modernist middle-class voters, as well as enhance the chances of candidate Abdelkarim Zubaidi to pass to the second round, compared to his direct rival, "Long live Tunisia" and Prime Minister Youssef Chahed.
It is difficult to predict the identity of the new president, with the convergence of the fortunes of more than one candidate, namely the candidate of the Ennahda Party Abdel Fattah Moro, and the prisoner candidate Nabil Al-Qarawi, Abdul Karim Zubaidi, and Youssef witness.
Tunisians are electing their next president out of 24 candidates in the second democratic presidential election in the country's history.