At stake in this election:     

• The office of President of Tunisia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Moncef MARZOUKI (since 12 December 2011)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Mehdi JOMAA (since 29 January 2014)
• Assembly: Tunisia has a unicameral National Constituent Assembly (al-Majlis al-Waṭanī at-Ta'sīsī) with 217 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is directly elected by a plurality system to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is chosen by the parliament, after legislative elections, is usually the leader of the majority party (or coalition) and is asked to form a government by the president.
• In the Tunisian Constituent Assembly 217 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system with the largest remainder method. **

* There are 27 domestic constituencies and six out-of-country constituencies. The electoral law requires gender parity on the lists, and all candidates lists presented must alternatively rank women and men. The law also requires youth representation by stipulating that candidate lists in any constituency which has at least four seats must include a male and female candidate no older than 35 among the first four candidates.

Election Note:

The second round of the presidential election in Tunisia will be held on Sunday 21 December 2014. No candidate won a majority of votes, so a second round is required. Results have Mr. ESSEBSI winning 39.46 percent of the vote and Mr. MARZOUKI winning 33.43 percent. The first round was held on Sunday 23 November 2014. It was the first presidential election since the Jasmine Revolution and the subsequent fall of former President Zine El Abidine BEN-ALI in January 2011. A new constitution was ratified in January 2014.[i] The 2014 elections are the first conventional elections that would pave the way for a regular government.

Main parties in the electoral race: *

• Candidate: Beji Caid ESSEBSI
  • Party: Call for Tunisia (Nidaa Tounes) / Nidā’ Tūnis)
• Candidate: Moncef MARZOUKI
  • Party: Congress for the Republic (CPR) / al-Mu’tamar min ajl il-Jumhūriyyah

* There were a total of 27 candidates for president. Many were running as independents.

** Renaissance Party (Ennahda Movement) / Hizb al-Nahda is not contesting the presidential election.

Last election:

• The last election for president of Tunisia was held on 25 October 2009.[ii] Turnout was 89 percent and 195,906 of 218,400 people casted ballots.[iii] Zine El Abidine BEN-ALI won with 98 percent of the vote.[iv] Results can be found here.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 10,937,521 (July 2014 est)[v]
• Registered Voters: 5,285,136 (Oct 2014)[vi]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 5,494,111 (July 2014 est)[vii]
• Is Tunisia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (since 24 July 1980)[viii]
• Has Tunisia ratified CEDAW: Yes (20 September 1985)[ix]
• Gender Quota:  Yes: “Legislated Candidate Quotas” in the National Constituent Assembly[x]
• Female Candidates in this election: 0.
• Number of Female Legislators: 58 (27%) of 217 seats in the National Constituent Assembly[xi]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 90[xii]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Ranking: 22^nd out of 86 non-OECD countries (latest rankings are from 2012)[xiii]

Disability Data:

• Is Tunisia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
• Has Tunisia ratified CRPD: Yes (2 April 2008)[1]

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  [1] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=iv-15&chapter=4&lang=en