The climate has much improved since our first election observation and restored confidence seems a reassuring and promising factor for the future of democracy in Tunisia,” head of the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission (EOM) Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck said on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference held in Tunis to present the final report of the EU EOM on the country’s 2014 legislative and presidential elections, the head of mission reviewed the recommendations made by the mission.
She spoke, in this context, of Article 143 of the electoral law which allows cancelling results of lists or candidates held responsible for infringements related to the standards of campaign and its financing. The EU EOM believed sanctions related to these infringements are “heavy” and should be revised.
According to the ceiling of campaign spending, the EU EOM noted that the ceiling imposed during 2014 election process was “very restrictive” and “too strict,” according to the head of the EU mission, deeming realistic to “raise them in the future elections to enable lists and candidates to conduct a campaign likely to reach out to voters.”
Rules governing the conduct of public and private media during the election campaign should also be reconsidered according to the EU EOM, since the “Tunisian legal framework governing the media coverage does not make a difference between public, private and co-operative media, all considered as national media.”
Among the recommendations mentioned by the head of the EOM there is also the unification of voter registration, the modernisation of civil status records and the full re-initialisation of the data base for the forthcoming registration of voters abroad to simplify the arrangements for expatriates.
On the publishing of polls, the EU EOM recommends “reducing significantly and rigorously delimiting the period during which their publishing is banned.”
Mrs. Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck also highlighted the “remarkable role” played by the civil society reflected in the involvement of thousands of Tunisians in the operation of polling stations.
Campaign standards were generally respected by lists and candidates and the large majority of infringement reported was “of minor importance,” she said in conclusion, adding that freedoms of expression and assembly were guarantee throughout the election period.
The head of the EU mission recalled that the recommendations of the EU EOM are made on an indicative basis and it is up to the Tunisian competent authorities to keep or revise them.
The press conference was attended by Head of the EU delegation to Tunisia Mrs. Laura Baeza and Mr. José Antonio de Gabriel, deputy chief observer.
Source: http://www.tap.info.tn/en/index.php/politics2/25405-tunisia-s-elections-...
