TUNIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The campaign leading up to the May 6 municipal elections began this Saturday across the 350 municipal constituencies spreading over the 24 Tunisian provinces.
About 2,074 candidate lists will run for a total of 7,177 municipal seats, of which 1,055 party lists, 159 coalition lists and 860 independents, said the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) on Friday.
According to the figures of ISIE, 69.63 percent of heads of lists are men and 30.3 percent are women, and 5,369,843 voters that have registered officially would be in front of the 11,185 polling stations across the country.
In accordance with the electoral code, a series of principles and restrictions must be respected, including the neutrality of administration and places of worship, the impartiality of the national media, the transparency of the election campaign at the level of funding sources, as well as equity and equality of opportunity among all candidates.
The Tunisian electoral law insists that the candidates possess advertising tools such as advertisements, public meetings, demonstrations, processions, popular gatherings in addition to all activities diffused on media.
The municipal election campaign will end on May 4 to give way to a one-day election silence. Voters will be entitled on May 6 to vote for their candidates whose names will be grouped in lists.
In addition, security and military forces, whose number is 36,055, will vote seperately on April 29 in 359 polling stations.
However, the ISIE holds the prerogatives to not reveal the vote results of this category immediately after the election, in order to preserve their preferences.
Officially, the announcement of the results will be scheduled for May 7, while the final results will be proclaimed on May 9.
The European Union has decided an observation mission with 80 observers to Tunisia at the invitation of the local government to monitor the first municipal election since the 2011 uprising.
