By RFIPosted on 06-10-2019Modified on 06-10-2019 at 14:06
Nearly 7 million Tunisian voters are expected to elect their 217 deputies, this Sunday, October 6. This one-round legislative vote is being held between the two rounds of the presidential election, which had a strong anti-system vote three weeks ago.
On this noisy artery in the city of Kram, in the suburbs of Tunisia, about fifty people were lined up even before the opening of the polling station on Sunday. Older faces, like Fatma, who is retired. Today, she convinced her husband to accompany her to vote to, she says, to put new faces in the Assembly because the disappointment is too great. " It's too difficult now ," she explains. Life is not good. It's over with others. The others are not good. "
Polling stations open in Tunisia.
More than 15,000 candidates on 1,500 lists are running for the 217 seats in the ARP. # TnElec2019 pic.twitter.com/ZMJq65Qr6A
A few steps away, there are cafes on shaded terraces where men are talking. Abstainers are numerous but do not want to speak at the microphone. Ahmed Chaoui, for his part, agrees with them, even he made the effort to go to the polls totally disillusioned. " I voted already, that's it," he says. There is a lack of recreation in the country so it is a way to make us believe that we are democrats. That's it . "
New breath in Parliament
One of the few crusaders in the polling station, Zach, believes in the future of his country. At 29, he hopes for a new lease of life in Parliament. " Today, if we do not try to change our system, if we can not do that, then who will do it ?" He asks. Any change helps us to hope. We have already had five years, even more, so we can not hope with the same face. It's changing and then we'll see if it gives or if it does not. But we can not hope with the same face . "
This thirst for change, perceptible around the voting centers, should give birth to a completely reconstituted hemicycle. Official results are not expected for several days. Three weeks after the first round of a presidential election that saw a revival in the Tunisian political landscape, voters have until 18h local time, 19h Paris time, to slip their ballot in the ballot box.
Participation, one of the main issues
Will voters be present to nominate members of the PRA, the Assembly of People's Representatives? In polling stations, the affluence is much lower than in the first round of the presidential election last month. The impetus that has ruled out the representatives of the ruling parties three weeks ago could again blow on this election.
The presidential campaign has somewhat eclipsed these legislative and the wind of disengagement should be confirmed by bringing new faces to the Assembly. The worsening economic situation and unfulfilled promises, eight years after the revolution, could breathe new life into the democratic transition, far from the parties that have hitherto ruled the country.
The party in the lead will have the difficult task of forming a government that will have to pass a majority vote of the new assembly within two months. The election of new MPs from new parties or the multitude of independent lists should create a real parliamentary mosaic with which the party in the lead will have no choice but to form alliances.
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