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Tunisia to Hold Presidential Elections in Last Quarter This Year

Tunisian President Kais Saied. (Reuters)
Tunisian President Kais Saied. (Reuters)
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Tunisia to Hold Presidential Elections in Last Quarter This Year

Tunisian President Kais Saied. (Reuters)
Tunisian President Kais Saied. (Reuters)

The 2024 presidential elections are expected to be held in September or October 2024, spokesman for the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), Mohamed Tlili Mnasri, announced Sunday.
The Authority will begin preparations for the 2024 presidential elections just after the setting up of the National Council of Regions and Districts, he added.
Mnasri was speaking on the sidelines of a press briefing held by the ISIE on Sunday in Tunis.
Mnasri pointed out that, under the laws in force - which he said had not been amended - the presidential elections should be held within the constitutional timeframe, during the last three months of the presidential term.
Chapter 90 of the 2022 Constitution stipulates that the President is to be elected for a five-year term through a general, free, direct, and secret election within the final three months of the presidential term by an absolute majority of the votes cast.
President of the Republic Kais Saied won the run-off presidential elections in 2019 against Nabil Karoui with 72.71% of the vote.
According to the Tunisian constitution, the president's five-year term is set to end in the upcoming fall.
On Sunday, Tunisians voted in the second round of local elections with more than four million registered voters.
Farouk Bouasker, the commission’s chief, said that the polling stations nationwide opened at 8:00 a.m. local time Sunday morning.
The turnout in the first round of the election was 11.6%, according to Bouasker.
According to figures released by Mourakiboun, the turnout in the run-off local council elections had been 1.7% between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Wajdi Hamdi, member of the steering committee of the Chahed Observatory for election monitoring, said no major offenses were reported since the start of polling.
A total of 1,558 candidates competed over 779 seats at the councils, in the presence of approximately 14,000 local and foreign observers, as well as representatives of the candidates and civil community organizations concerned with electoral affairs.
The preliminary results of the elections are expected to be announced by February 7, with final results released on March 8-9.

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Arab World

Israeli Fire Kills 11, Including Journalists, Gaza Health Officials Say

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to medics, were killed by Israeli strikes on Wednesday, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to medics, were killed by Israeli strikes on Wednesday, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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Israeli Fire Kills 11, Including Journalists, Gaza Health Officials Say

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to medics, were killed by Israeli strikes on Wednesday, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to medics, were killed by Israeli strikes on Wednesday, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Israeli fire killed 11 Palestinians, including two boys and three journalists, in Gaza on Wednesday, local medics ​said, and the Israeli military said it had "eliminated" a Palestinian militant who posed a threat to soldiers.

In the latest violence disrupting a brittle, three-month-old ceasefire, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian journalists travelling in a car in the central Gaza Strip.

The three were on an assignment sponsored by the Egyptian Committee, which supervises Egypt's relief work in Gaza, to film tent encampments built by Egypt for displaced Palestinians, other local journalists told Reuters.

An Egyptian security source confirmed the vehicle belonged to the committee but gave no further details. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request ‌for comment.

Israel and Hamas ‌have traded blame for multiple breaches of the October truce after ‌two ⁠years ​of war ‌that devastated Gaza and caused a humanitarian disaster, and remain at odds over the next steps in US President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan.

Earlier on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said three people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed as a result of Israeli tank shelling east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. Two others, a boy of 13 and a woman, were killed in two Israeli shooting incidents in eastern Khan Younis in Gaza's south, they said.

Three other Palestinians were killed in other shootings across the coastal enclave, taking Wednesday's ⁠death toll to at least 11, the health ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza said.

Residents said the two incidents occurred in Palestinian-controlled areas. The ‌ceasefire brought about a partial Israeli military withdrawal, leaving Israeli forces holding ‍about 53% of the enclave, but they ‍have been gradually expanding their presence in recent weeks, leading to further displacement of Palestinian families, residents ‍told Reuters.

There was also no immediate Israeli military comment on the two incidents.

Earlier on Wednesday, it said in a statement that Israeli forces had killed a "terrorist" who entered an area under their control, posing an imminent threat to soldiers operating there.

TRUMP PLAN STRUGGLES TO MOVE BEYOND FIRST STAGE

The US-brokered October deal has not progressed beyond ​the first-phase ceasefire, under which major fighting stopped, some Israeli forces pulled back, and Hamas freed hostages in return for Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners.

Under future phases whose details ⁠have yet to be hammered out, Hamas is supposed to disarm, Israeli forces withdraw further and an internationally backed administration installed to rebuild the ruined, densely populated territory.

But no timetable has been set to implement the plan.

Trump was due on Thursday to preside over a ceremony celebrating the Board of Peace, a group he formed with the stated goal of redeveloping the coastal enclave.

Israel says it can only move into the second phase after Hamas hands over the remains of the last Israeli hostage.

On Wednesday, Hamas Gaza spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the Islamist group had shared all information it had on the body of the last hostage and searched for it but in vain, blaming what it called Israeli military obstruction.

More than 460 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed in clashes since the ceasefire took effect.

Arab World

Egyptian President Says Palestinian Cause Remains Top Priority

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Egyptian President Says Palestinian Cause Remains Top Priority

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026. (AFP)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday said the Palestinian cause is still “at the forefront of priorities” in the Middle East.

He told a panel at Davos that resolving Palestinian cause “is the core of regional stability, and a cornerstone to achieve a just and comprehensive peace.”

The Egyptian leader lauded US President Donald Trump’s efforts to help reach a ceasefire that stropped the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October.

The two leaders are expected to meet at Davos, said the Egyptian Presidency on Tuesday.

This ‌will be ‌the first ‌meeting ⁠between ​the ‌two leaders since the US announced it was launching the second phase of its plan to end the war in Gaza.

Sisi and ⁠Trump met in the ‌Red Sea resort ‍of Sharm ‍el-Sheikh in October during a ‍summit convened by Egypt to sign a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the ​war.

Arab World

Israel’s Netanyahu Agrees to Join Trump’s Board of Peace

12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)
12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)
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Israel’s Netanyahu Agrees to Join Trump’s Board of Peace

12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)
12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Wednesday he had agreed to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, after his office earlier criticized makeup of the board’s executive committee.

The board, chaired by Trump, was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. The Trump administration’s ambitions have appeared to balloon into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting it will soon broker global conflicts.

Netanyahu’s office had previously said the executive committee, which includes Türkiye, a key regional rival, wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli government and “is contrary to its policy,” without clarifying its objections.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has criticized the board and called for Israel to take unilateral responsibility for Gaza’s future.

Others who have joined the board are the UAE, Morocco, Vietnam, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Argentina. Others, including the UK, Russia and the executive arm of the European Union, say they have received invitations but have not yet responded.

It came as Trump traveled to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to provide more details about the board. There are many unanswered questions. It was not immediately clear how many or which other leaders would receive invitations.

When asked by a reporter Tuesday if the board should replace the UN, Trump said, “It might.”

He asserted that the world body “hasn’t been very helpful” and “has never lived up to its potential” but also said the UN should continue ”because the potential is so great.”

That has created controversy, with some saying Trump is trying to replace the UN. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday, “Yes to implementing the peace plan presented by the president of the United States, which we wholeheartedly support, but no to creating an organization as it has been presented, which would replace the United Nations.”

Told late Monday that French President Emmanuel Macron was unlikely to join, Trump said, “Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon.” A day later, Trump called Macron “a friend of mine”, but reiterated that the French leader is “not going to be there very much longer.”

The executive board’s members include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.

The White House also announced the members of another board, the Gaza Executive Board, which, according to the ceasefire, will be in charge of implementing the tough second phase of the agreement. That includes deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding the war-devastated territory.

Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and UN Mideast envoy, is to serve as the Gaza executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters. Additional members include: Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi; Hassan Rashad, director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency; Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy; Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay; and Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Mideast expert.

The board also will supervise a newly appointed committee of Palestinian technocrats who will be running Gaza’s day-to-day affairs.