President of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), Farouk Bouasker, told members of the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP) on Wednesday that the authority is ready to organise by-elections for the seven parliamentary seats that remain vacant.
These seats, reserved for seven overseas constituencies, were left vacant due to a lack of candidates in the last parliamentary elections in 2022.
Once the vacancy has been established, Bouasker added, Parliament must send a letter to the electoral authority. The latter can then organise by-elections in the seven constituencies concerned within three months, he stressed in response to MPs’ interventions during the plenary session dedicated to the examination of the draft budget of the ISIE for 2024.
The ARP has 161 seats. Currently, only 154 elected members sit in the parliament. The other seven seats, which should have been filled by elected representatives from certain overseas constituencies, remain vacant.
With regard to the next elections
, scheduled for 2024, the President of the ISIE stated that “the periodic elections will take place within the deadlines”, which will be set “a few months before the scheduled date” of these elections.
With regard to the second chamber, Bouasker indicated that it would be installed at the end of March next year or the beginning of April 2024.
He added that immediately after the installation of the 279 elected local councils, the ISIE would organise indirect elections to set up 24 regional councils and 5 district councils, before completing the process with the installation of the National Council of Regions and Districts. This process should take one and a half months, he said.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse