At stake in this election:

• The office of the President of Tunisia*

*As a result of president Beji Caid Essebsi death on 25 July, the elections were brought forward in order to ensure that a new President would take office within 90 days, as required by the constitution. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff election will be no later than 3 November. [1]

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Interim President Mohamed ENNACEUR (since 25 July 2019)*
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Youssef CHAHED (since 27 August 2016)
• 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 elected by absolute majority popular vote through a two-round 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 first round of the presidential election in Tunisia was held on Sunday 15 September 2019. No candidate won a majority of votes, so a second round was required. Results have Mr. SAÏED winning 18.40 percent of the vote and Mr. KAROUI winning 15.58 percent.

Main candidates in this presidential race:*

• Candidate: Nabil KAROUI
  • Party: The Heart of Tunisia / Au cœur de la Tunisie **
• Candidate: Kaïs SAÏED
  • Party: Independent

* There are 26 candidates running in this election.

** In June, Parliament passed an amendment to its electoral law which would have banned Karoui from running for president. The draft said candidates need to be rejected who benefit from “charitable associations” or foreign funding during the year before an election. However, former President Essebsi had not signed the law before he died, allowing Karoui to run.

Population and Voter Registration:

• Population: 11,516,189 (July 2018 est.)[2]
• Registered Voters: 5,369,843 (2018 est.)[3]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 5,791,328 (2018 est.)[4]
• Is Tunisia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (since 24 July 1980)[5]
• Has Tunisia ratified CEDAW: Yes (20 September 1985)[6]
• Gender Quota:  Yes: “Legislated Candidate Quotas” in the National Constituent Assembly[7]
• Female Candidates in this election: 2.
• Number of Female Legislators: 78 (36%) of 217 seats in the National Constituent Assembly[8]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 90[9]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Ranking: 22^nd out of 86 non-OECD countries (latest rankings are from 2012)[10]

Disability Data:

• Is Tunisia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)[11]
• Has Tunisia ratified CRPD: Yes (02 April 2008)[12]
• Population with a disability: 1,655,584 (according to World Health Organization’s 15% estimate)[13]