National Election Observatory notes "irregularities without much effect"

"The National Elections Observatory (NEO), created by the Tunisian Human Rights League (THRL), in association with several civil society organisations, has taken a significant step in ensuring exercise of the electoral duty in a climate of transparency, democracy and entrenchment of traditional justice," said THRL chairman Abdessattar Ben Moussa. In a news conference held Tuesday in Tunis by the Observatory, Mr. Ben Moussa also said that the democratic transition could only be carried out through the trial of the symbols of corruption and those who committed crimes against the Tunisian people. Mr. Ali Zdini, co-ordinator general of NEO, said that the Observatory has set for itself the target of recruiting some five thousand observers, 3,200 of whom have been hired so far,  who will be deployed in 80% of the polling stations. The Observatory had recourse to nearly 300 observers to cover the campaign in all the delegations and detected irregularities without much effect on the running of the election campaign. Several components of civil society are represented in this Observatory, including the Tunisian Association of Women Democrats, the Association of Tunisian Women for Research and Development, the Association of Tunisian Judges, the National Union of Tunisian Journalists, the National Council for Freedoms in Tunisia, the Tunisian Organisation against Torture and the National Order of Tunisian Engineers.