Tunis — Voting for the presidential elections will begin in a few hours at all polling stations abroad as the first polling station opens its doors to voters in Sydney, the President of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), Farouk Bouasker, announced on Thursday evening.
Speaking at the inauguration of the media centre for the 2024 presidential elections at the Tunis Convention Centre, he added that voting abroad would continue for three days, until October 6, the date of the elections at home.
He pointed out that permanent offices have been set up in most of the headquarters of Tunisian diplomatic and consular missions abroad, where the total number of registered voters abroad has reached 642,810, divided between 383,669 male voters (59.6 per cent) and 259,741 female voters (40.4 per cent).
In cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, the Commission added that it had obtained licences from accredited countries to open 319 polling centres and 409 polling stations in 59 countries on all continents, including 11 countries where elections are being held for the first time since 2011.
This "reflects the Commission's keenness to expand the map of polling stations and bring them closer to the Tunisian people", he stressed.
In preparation for polling day, Bouasker said the commission had equipped 5,331 polling centres and 10,078 polling stations, divided into 5,013 centres and 9,650 stations at home and 319 centres and 409 stations abroad, and recruited 42,097 staff to supervise polling stations.
The supply of voting ink has been secured and voting materials have been sent to all destinations abroad under diplomatic conditions prepared and assembled by a team placed at the Commission's disposal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Tunisian voters living abroad will be able to vote freely at any polling station of their choice, on presentation of their national identity card or passport, and this measure will also apply to non-resident Tunisians who are abroad on polling days.
In this context, he pointed out that the polling stations prepared by the ISIE in various cities and villages of the country will be ready without exception and their doors will be open without interruption from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to receive voters and enable them to exercise their right to vote freely, responsibly and without guardianship to choose who they consider most worthy to lead the country, he said.
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The Electoral Commission is convinced that this right to vote is an internal national affair par excellence because it has a direct and decisive impact on the future of Tunisia, he added, noting that its success requires the involvement of everyone in this process and the concerted efforts of the various state structures, all national energies and civil society components.
