Independents win most seats in Tunisia local election

By Yamena Salemi

TUNIS (AA) – Independents have won most seats in last month’s local election in Tunisia, the country’s electoral commission announced on Wednesday.

According to official results announced by the commission, independent candidates won 2,373 seats in the May 6 polls.

The Islamist Ennahda movement came in the second place with 2,139 seats, followed by the liberal Nidaa Tounes party with 1,600 seats and the leftist Popular Front party with 261 seats, the commission said.

Commission head Mohamed Tlili Mansri said the polls saw a %35.6 voter turnout.

“Forty-seven percent of winning candidates are women while the remaining 53 percent are men,” he said.

The local polls were the first to be held in Tunisia since a popular uprising unseated autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.