Elections in Tunisia: Italian civil society has sent an international observation mission

On 23rd October 2011 Tunisia held the Constituent Assembly elections which were the first elections after the removal of the former President Ben Ali. The Constituent Assembly will be composed by 218 members elected in 33 plurinominal constituencies with closed list proportional representation, and the equal participation of men and women. 81 political parties participated in the electoral competition.

During the elections, an international mission, composed by 533 international observers, monitored the electoral procedure. Among them, 499 were European and American, 34 were from other Arab countries. Among the 15 organisations accredited by the Elections High Independent Tunisian Authority, besides  international organisations such as the European Union (204 observers), the Council of Europe (26 observers) and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (52 observers), there were several international NGOs such as the Carter Foundation, the National Democratic institute, the Arab Elections Network and the Gender Concerns International.

The Italian civil society has sent a delegation composed by 19 observers who monitored some polling stations in the area of Sidi Bouzid. The mission was organised by the Italian Peace Association (Associazione per la Pace) and representatives of several organisations and associations, among which Libera, Acmos Association and the Welcome to Italy Foundation, participated.