TUNIS – The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) announced today the launch of their joint Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the September 15 presidential and October 6 parliamentary elections in Tunisia. 

After having been postponed on many occasions for technical and political reasons, Tunisia held municipal elections May, 6, 2018. More than 53,000 candidates, representing 2,074 lists all over the country, ran for seats on municipal councils. Municipal elections represented an important landmark for the implementation of Article Seven of the Tunisian Constitution. As a result, the national government has begun to delegate power and responsibilities to the municipal councils, in a process of decentralization that will last for Many years.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) deployed an international delegation to Tunisia from July 30 - August 2, 2019. The purpose of the mission was to demonstrate the interest of the international community in Tunisia’s continued democratic transition, assess the prevailing political environment and preparations for the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections, and identify areas where change is possible to improve the integrity of the elections.

In January 2019, six Tunisian civil society organizations and partners of NDI collectively issued 22 recommendations for improving electoral processes. The group, which includes the Chahed Observatory, IWatch, Mourakiboun, the Ofiya Coalition, the Tunisian Mediterranean Center (TU-MED) and Youth Without Borders (French acronym JSF), collaborated in analyzing their findings from past election observation efforts.

This assessment details an analysis of women's political participation in Tunisia and sets out recommendations and action plans to address violence against women in political parties.