Tunis/Tunisia — The turnout in the run-off local elections reached 5.34% by 1pm, Farouk Bouasker, President of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) said at a press conference at El Menzah sports complex on the progress of voting.

He added that the total number of people who voted was 223,312 out of 4,181,871 registered voters.

Bouasker also reported that 27% of the voters were women and 73% were men.

As for the number of voters by age group, 15% were under 35, 47% were between 36 and 60 and 38% were over 60.

The President of the ISIE noted that the turnout for the run-off was close to that of the first round and predicted that this rate would increase at 6pm when the polling stations close.

He pointed out that there was a significant difference in turnout between governorates, noting that some regions had a very respectable turnout compared to other governorates where the turnout was below the required level, he said.

Commenting on the violations observed at polling stations, Bouasker stressed that these were mainly related to the violation of the secrecy of the ballot.