The Mechanisms and Procedures to Ensure the Integrity of the Upcoming Elections

  Thursday, August 29^th, 2013

Novotel Hotel, Tunis

The seminar included three essential interventions by Mr. Omar Boubakri; former Head of the Subsidiary Body for Elections and lecturer in the Faculty of Law of Sfax, Mr. Lassaad Moussa; member of the Observatory "Shahid" for the Control of the Integrity of Elections, and Mr. Mounir Amri; founding member of the Association "ATID" responsible for raising awareness and training in monitoring elections. The first speaker dealt with the "terms of integrity in the upcoming elections", the second intervention was presented under the title "controlling elections as a way to guarantee its integrity", while the third intervention was addressed to deal with "the corrupt political money and its impact on the electoral process".

The seminar was opened by the welcoming speech of Dr. Radwan Masmoudi; the president of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. He explained the main objective of this meeting which is to ensure the fairness, freedom, transparency and acceptance of the next elections as a prerequisite for the completion of the democratic building while stressing the need to adopt this goal as a national duty.

The participants in the seminar stressed that the contribution to the success of the electoral process is positive, necessary and should be the responsibility undertaken by all parties entrusted with the task of ensuring the success of the next electoral process namely; the government, the Independent High Commission for Elections , parties, civil society, media, observers and voters. They noted that there are no absolute fair elections even in the oldest democracies so mistakes are accepted as the nature of things, what is much more important is that elections will be accepted by everyone.

Some participants explained that the role of the Independent High Commission for Elections is to supervise the electoral process, to attempt to avoid the regulatory mistakes that occurred during the past elections, and to provide a positive and constructive atmosphere.

Some attendees pointed out that monitoring the elections should include the entire electoral process because the observation of elections plays a central role in restoring the people's confidence. The importance of openness as a political and moral contract was also emphasized.

The dialogue session was concluded by the following recommendations:

• Devoting the international standards for the success of the electoral process in order to be democratic, free, fair and transparent.


• Calling on the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) to return to activity to ratify the Constitution, to complete the appointment of the Independent High Commission for Elections' members, and to draft the electoral law.


• Calling upon the NCA to form a committee of experts to discuss the electoral law, provided that it is being accepted by everyone.


• Taking advantage of the 23^rd October 2011 elections and avoiding its shortcomings.


• Establishing security as a prerequisite for the success of the elections because straining the security situation could prevent the completion of the electoral process.


• Enhancing the principle of "peaceful transfer of power" with a focus on the principles of "partnership" and "compatibility".


• Restricting the government and the media to principle of "respect for the neutrality".


• Dedicating a culture of elections for promoting sensitization and raising awareness.


• Organizing seminars and raising awareness courses within universities to sensitize the youth of their role in the electoral and political process in general and to make them aware of the risk of their reluctance to participate in elections.


• Controlling the financing of political parties to ensure that tyranny will not come back from the gate of corrupt political money.


• Promoting the percentage of participation in the elections.


• Activating a code that allows helping illiterate people perform their electoral duty.


• Assuring that all parties will be committed in advance to accept the final result.