President of the Independent Higher Authority for the Elections (ISIE) Farouk Bouasker on Friday pointed out that the Code of Local Authorities needs to be revised to clarify the prerogatives of local councils in relation to municipal councils, so as to prevent possible conflicts of jurisdiction given the ambiguous relationship between the two structures.

To date 330,000 voter register updating operations have been carried out by the authority’s staffers, Bouasker told TAP on the sidelines of an awareness-raising event on the participation of women in local council elections organised at the National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT) seat in Ariana.

He added that almost 1.2 million Tunisians had consulted the application to check their registration and 2,500 Tunisians overseas updated their registration via the “touensa” platform.

In line with the calendar for local elections, the ISIE is preparing to organise a set of regional meetings with civil society organisations, in particular those active in the fields of women’s rights, youth and people with disabilities, in the run-up to the submission of candidatures, he indicated.

Taking the floor, UNFT President Radhia Jeribi underlined the need for positive discrimination to ensure better representation of women in local, regional and inter-regional councils.

She also underlined the fact that the presence of women in parliament falls short of expectations.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse