The Independent High Authority for Elections in Tunisia extended, on Monday, the period for accepting candidacy for the upcoming legislative elections by 3 days, to enable candidates to complete their files.
The authority said - in a statement - that its council, convened on Monday, decided to extend the period for accepting nominations for the elections of members of the House of People's Representatives for a period of 3 days, starting from Tuesday until Thursday until six in the evening.
"During this period, candidates who have filed their candidacy files can complete the required data and documents, and those wishing to run can submit their candidacy files," the statement added.
The electoral law requires several documents to be submitted by the candidate, including a criminal record card, a statement of disposal of last year's taxes, and a summary of the electoral program that includes 400 recommendations from the constituency's voters, half of whom are female.
On Sunday, the Supreme Elections Authority announced the acceptance of 891 candidates for the early parliamentary elections, scheduled for December 17.
The authority said that the number of men who were accepted amounted to 774 candidates, while the number of women reached 117, as of Sunday.
On September 15, Tunisian President Kais Saied made amendments to the electoral law issued in 2014, by adopting the voting method on individuals instead of lists and adopting the principle of withdrawing the agency and reducing the number of deputies from 217 to 161, including 10 representatives from the community abroad.
The parliamentary elections represent the last leg of the road map set by President Kais Saied since he announced the exceptional measures on July 25, 2021, and dissolved Parliament and later suspended the work of the 2014 constitution and dissolved constitutional bodies, under the pretext of combating corruption and chaos in state institutions.
Most of the opposition parties announced their boycott of the elections and accused President Saeed of establishing individual rule and collecting wide powers in the new system of government that was established in the 2022 constitution and presented to the popular referendum on last July 25.