Tunisia fails to elect High Electoral Commission head again

The Tunisian Parliament yesterday failed to elect the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission to replace Chafik Sarsar who resigned in May.

The Speaker of the Parliament, Mohamed Ennaceur, declared during a public session that “no head for the High Commission has been elected yet, as none of the candidates won the required quorum.” To be elected, a candidate must receive 109 votes.

“The candidate Nabil Baffoun received 73 votes, while his competitor Anis Al-Jarboui won 68 votes. 149 deputies, out of 217, participated voted, six didn’t and two votes were cancelled,” Ennaceur said.

“We have concluded this session with this negative result and the Chamber of Deputies [the supreme body of the parliament] will meet up to plan for another session to carry on discussing this topic and there are procedures to be implemented that we will be announcing later.”

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On Monday, during the first vote, the Parliament failed to elect a chairman from among six candidates. None of the candidates received the required majority.

The former head of the High Commission Chafik Sarsar submitted his resignation on 9 May accompanied by his deputy, Mourad Ben Mawla, and a member of the High Commission, Lamia Zarkouni.