p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Helvetica; color: #323333; -webkit-text-stroke: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #fffc41} span.s3 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #0682c1; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #0682c1} span.s4 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #77bb41} span.s5 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #0682c1} span.s6 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #0682c1; background-color: #fffc41; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #0682c1} span.s7 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #fffb01} TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia is getting ready to hold its first municipal elections since the 2011 revolution. While the general poll is scheduled for May 6 (with soldiers and members of the security services set to vote Apr. 29), past postponements have raised fears among activists of further delays. 

The first phase of preparations, during which the candidate lists were submitted to the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), had several surprises, including a large number of youths registering as candidates. Over 75% of registrations were candidates under the age of 45, while over 50% were under 35. The review of candidacies started on Feb. 15 and ended Feb. 22.

Member Anis al-Jarboui expressed the ISIE’s surprise with the high number of young people who registered to run. “This increased number of candidates foreshadows political changes in the coming years,” he told Al-Monitor. “The candidacy of independent figures somewhat changed the scene, despite the prevalence of party lists. The nature and structure of candidacies set municipal elections apart from legislative and presidential elections.”

ISIE statistics indicate that women candidates make up 47.46% of the field.