Description of Electoral System:

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 5-year term. In the Chamber of Deputies (Majlis al-Nuwaab) 189 members are elected by popular vote to serve 5-year terms.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

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Politics in Tunisia

(courtesy of wikipedia)

Politics in Tunisia take place under a framework of a presidential republic. The President of Tunisia is both head of state and head of government, and there is a pluriform multi-party system dominated by the Democratic Constitutional Rally. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia.

The current Constitution was adopted on June 1, 1959 soon after its independence from France. The constitution has been changed twice to allow the President to remain in power: initially from two to three terms, and then from three to five. It was amended on July 12, 1988 to limit to two the number of terms a president is allowed to run. In 1998 it was amended to allow the President three terms. In 2002 it was changed to allow the president to rule for five terms.

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been in office since 1987 when he deposed Habib Bourguiba, who had been President since Tunisia's independence from France in 1956. He is currently in his fourth term, having been reelected in 2004. The ruling party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), was the sole legal party for 25 years — when it was known as the Socialist Destourian Party (PSD) — and still dominates political life.