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Tunisia municipal elections delayed until next year

September 18, 2017 at 11:34 am

Image a voting booth [Amr Sayed/Apaimages]

Tunisia’s first post-revolution municipal elections that were due in December will reportedly be postponed until next year, the Head of Tunisia’s Ennahda party has said.

Speaking to Shems FM radio, Rachid Ghannouchi said:

We were not favourable to a postponement of the municipal elections but there are objective reasons for a delay.

Ghannouchi explained that the electoral commission was expected to announce a new date this week with the likelihood of it being in March 2018; however Ghannouchi’s comments are yet to be confirmed.

The electoral commission initially confirmed that the country’s first municipal elections since 2011 would take place on 17 December however that date was changed following consultation with the government, political parties and civil society groups.

The Ennahda party is the ally of Nidaa Tounes, founded by current President Beji Caid Essebsi, both of which make up the majority in Parliament.

Read more: The hidden battle between Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes

The municipal polls are expected to consolidate the country’s political transition as a young democracy, after the adoption of a new constitution and the 2014 legislative and presidential polls.

The government recently announced a cabinet reshuffle to make it more representative of Tunisia’s political framework with the hopes of ending months of in-fighting.