Tunis: The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) urged citizens to report fraudulent endorsements of presidential candidates by calling the free tall number 1814.

The ISIE pointed out in a press release issued on Saturday that complaints can also be lodged directly with one of the ISIE’s nearest offices.

The ISIE unveiled the electoral calendar for the forthcoming presidential election on October 6 at a press conference last week.

President of the authority Farouk Bouasker spoke at the time about the new criteria required of candidates, notably with regard to the issue of sponsorship. Candidates must secure the endorsement of ten members of the Assembly of People’s Representatives or the National Council of Regions and Districts, or 40 elected presidents of local authorities in office at the time of acceptance of candidacies (local, regional or municipal councils), or the endorsement of 10,000 registered voters spread over at least 10 legislative constituencies, with a minimum of 500 voters per c
onstituency.

To date, more than forty people have withdrawn their endorsement forms from within and outside the country. Nominations are due to be submitted between July 29 and August 6.

Bouasker announced that the ISIE would check the list of endorsers and their signatures, which would be published so that voters could consult it and lodge appeals if necessary.

Bouasker warned that endorsements which do not comply with the model drawn up by the authority and which do not include the required data will not be accepted by the authority.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse