Tunisia’s Electoral Commission Opens Door for Candidacy in Upcoming Parliamentary Elections

Presidential candidate Kais Saied speaks during an interview with Reuters, as the country awaits the official results of the presidential election, in Tunis, Tunisia September 17, 2019. (Reuters)
Presidential candidate Kais Saied speaks during an interview with Reuters, as the country awaits the official results of the presidential election, in Tunis, Tunisia September 17, 2019. (Reuters)
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Tunisia’s Electoral Commission Opens Door for Candidacy in Upcoming Parliamentary Elections

Presidential candidate Kais Saied speaks during an interview with Reuters, as the country awaits the official results of the presidential election, in Tunis, Tunisia September 17, 2019. (Reuters)
Presidential candidate Kais Saied speaks during an interview with Reuters, as the country awaits the official results of the presidential election, in Tunis, Tunisia September 17, 2019. (Reuters)

Head of Tunisia’s electoral commission Farouk Bouaskar announced Monday that 1,706 candidates across the country will compete for the 161 seats of the lower house of parliament.

Tunisia’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for December 2022.

Bouaskar said in press statements that the commission has received around 326,000 recommendations from registered voters for a number of candidates, who will be elected directly instead of via party lists.

On Sunday, the electoral commission published a list of its 27 central offices distributed around different areas, where candidates are to submit their nominations.

President Kais Saied vowed to make new changes to the electoral law he enacted in September, citing “manipulation” in the registration process of nominated candidates.

Several human rights organizations interested in electoral issues and a political party participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections expected Saied to draw back the conditions stating that the candidate shall obtain 400 endorsements from voters within the district, half of them women and a quarter of them under the age of 35, according to the law’s updated article 21.

Saied has not yet announced the expected amendment to the electoral law.



Erdogan Accuses Israel of Seeking to ‘Dynamite’ Syria ‘Revolution'

 Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Erdogan Accuses Israel of Seeking to ‘Dynamite’ Syria ‘Revolution'

 Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya, on April 11, 2025. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Israel of sowing divisions in Syria in a bid to "dynamite" the "revolution" that toppled strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Türkiye is a key backer of Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group led the opposition coalition which ousted Assad in December.

"Israel is trying to dynamite the December 8 revolution by stirring up ethnic and religious affiliations and turning minorities in Syria against the government," Erdogan told a diplomacy forum in the southern Mediterranean resort of Antalya.

Erdogan's comments come as officials from Türkiye and Israel began talks this week aimed at easing tensions over Syria.

Israel has launched air strikes and ground incursions to keep Syrian forces away from its border.

A Turkish defense ministry source said on Thursday that the first technical meeting with Israel had taken place in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned this did not mean the two sides were moving towards normalizing ties strained over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

Türkiye has suspended all trade with Israel, with Erdogan accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "genocide" in the Palestinian territory since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel began the war.

On Friday, Erdogan condemned Israel's "barbarism" after a pre-dawn air strike that officials in Gaza said killed 10 members of the same family.

"Just this morning, 10 people, including seven children, from the same family were martyred in Khan Younis. If this is not barbarism, I ask you, what is it?" he asked at the diplomacy forum.

- Sharaa at diplomacy forum -

Sharaa, who arrived in Antalya earlier in the day, was due to meet with Erdogan on the sidelines of the diplomacy forum.

It marks his second trip to Türkiye as leader after Erdogan welcomed him to the capital Ankara in February.

After meeting with Qatar's foreign minister Sharaa, wearing a suit and a tie, was mobbed by reporters clamoring for comment.

Ankara's influence on Syria's new authorities has worried Israel, which considers Sharaa's forces to be extremists and has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since Assad's ouster.

"Israel is turning into a problematic country that directly threatens the stability of the region, especially with its attacks on Lebanon and Syria," Erdogan told the forum.

The Turkish leader said the Syrian "revolution" offered an opportunity to bring stability to the region and warned it should not be wasted.

"We will not allow Syria to be dragged into a new vortex of instability," he said.

He also said Israeli strikes were denting efforts to combat the ISIS group.