Tunisians vote in 2nd parliamentary election since 2011

By Adil Essabiti

TUNIS (AA) – Tunisians have headed to polls on Sunday to elect their representatives in the parliament.

It is the second parliamentary election since the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.

Polling stations opened nationwide at 08.00 a.m. local time (0700GMT).

Around 7.1 million Tunisians are eligible to cast ballot in Sunday’s polls to elect the 217 members of parliament.

There are 220 registered political parties in Tunisia, of which only ten are fielding candidates in all 33 districts in the general election.

Tunisian expatriates began casting their ballot on Friday through Sunday.

The parliamentary polls come three weeks after the first round of a presidential election, which saw two relative outsiders advance to a runoff vote, which will be held on Oct. 13.