Citizens from Bani Khallad closed their doors against the Elections Authority agents roaming the neighbourhoods; updating the voters register in conjunction with the first Local Council elections dated on the following 24th of December.
The Independent High Authority for Elections supervised several preparations for voting to take place; the first stage is the agents supervising updating the voters register through conducting field visits programmed according to each area, while also allocating permanent headquarters in the local institutions in Al-Mo’tamidiya, the post office and the municipality since September.
However, such preparations failed to impress the citizens, for the agents faced several hardships during their field visits, calling the interference of the local authorities to facilitate their missions, as the districts’ mayors accompanied them during their direct contact with the voters.
“Al-Mashaal” surveyed the opinions of many Bani Khallad citizens, finding that some expressed their boredom and lost all confidence in the elections.
“To be honest, I don’t have faith in the elections, all promises made by candidates are broken, they use the citizen to gain their votes, and after that we see nothing of what they pledged in their electoral programs, things only changed from bad to worse; there is poverty still, daily problems, deteriorated facilities, and we suffer to earn our bread and face increasing prices”, said Galal Hosny, a day-labourer.
Ahmed Ben Aliya, a worker in a company, feels indifferent towards the whole ordeal, adding to Hosny’s words, saying “I won’t participate in repeating the past mistakes, this is a farce, all candidates seek their personal gains, they want to be distinguished and earn political positions, without any regard for the citizens interests”.
Hossam Hamdy, a young man from Asil Al-Geha, feels disappointed with the previous elections, “all those who won the elections and achieved their goals forgot about us, they didn’t ensure any decent living or better livelihoods. Of course, I refuse to participate in anything related to the elections”.
Khalil Samari, an employee, says angrily, “I won’t take part in updating the list or any voting process, and even if the election place changes, it is hopeless... we’ve seen what the previous candidates did to us, all what they cared about was their personal interests, and we are only a means to an end, even the way they treated us has changed after they won, we were only met with indifference, discrimination, and ignoring the public interest, they left us to suffer”.
Amal Abu Anan, a housewife, thinks that the upcoming local elections is the best way to serve and support the local community and defend its interest, “this is a chance to test the winning candidates, to see how they will serve and improve Al- Mo’tamidiya”, that’s why she cooperated with the Election Authority in updating the register.
Saeeda Al-Makani, a sixty-year-old housewife, believes that voting is a duty and a right, no matter if her choices were wrong, she vows to participate and vote, “we should focus on the current elections to highlight our problems, to defend the interests of the people of Al- Mo’tamidiya and change things for the best”.
Abeer Dakhlawi, a college student, said that she supports these elections the most; especially as it enabled people with special needs to participate and run for elections, hoping that things would change after 24th of December, vowing to exert her effort to fulfil her duty and vote.
Commenting on these events and people’s anger, Rawya Al-Saheli, the regional director of the Subsidiary Elections Authority, told “Al-Mashaal” that some citizens didn’t cooperate with the agents and refuse to talk to them about anything related to the elections, “they see us as a body responsible for the negligence of others; due to the current economic and social situation the country is experiencing”.
“Citizens asked the agents questions like: what did the elections ever offer us? They told the agents: we don’t want to talk about elections in the first place”, she added.
“Some citizens cooperate with the agents in their field visits, and others refuse to update the voters register, choosing to abstain from voting”, Henidi Al-Hadagi, a member in the Local Election Authority, told “Al-Mashaal”.
It is worth mentioning that the latest statistics for updating the voter register until 13th of October confirmed that the total number had reached 347,773 in Nabel 2, distributed as follows: 345,151, the number of updating operations via field agents, and 2,622, the number of updating operations remotely.
The Election Authority has published, during a press seminar, that the updating of the electoral register had been completed on 21st of October.
The Independent High Authority for Elections confirmed that in Tunisia, on 8th of November, the first accepted candidates list will be announced.
