Security personnel vote in Tunisia local election

By Yosra Ouanes 

TUNIS

Military and security personnel on Sunday began voting in Tunisia’s local election, for the first time in the country’s history.  

Some 36,495 military and security personnel are registered to cast ballot in the vote.  

Civilians will vote on May 6.  

“Voting is a day for celebration by security personnel,” Faisal al-Ziri, head of the Tunisian Observatory for Republican Security, an NGO, said after casting ballot in the capital Tunis.

"It is part of rights that have been gained and which we hope to expand to include voting in the legislative and presidential elections in 2019," he said.  

For his part, Mohamed Tlili al-Mansri, head of the Independent High Electoral Commission, said many security personnel have turned out for the polls.  

Around 45,000 candidates are vying for seats in the local polls, the first since a popular uprising unseated autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.  

Some 5,369,000 Tunisians are eligible to cast ballots in the vote, according to the electoral commission.