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An unprecedented list of 70 candidates will be contending in Tunisia's presidential election in November, the country's Elections Board (ISIE) said on Tuesday.
All the 70 presidential candidates, including four females, had submitted their candidacy files to ISIE between Sept. 8 and Sept. 22, making this year's presidential election, which is scheduled for Nov. 23, a historic one in the number of candidates. It will also be the first time in Tunisia's history that women are running for president.
The diverse list of candidates includes current Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki and head of the National Constituent Assembly Mustapha Ben Jaafar. Some former ministers who served under the government of toppled President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali will also run in the race.
The Islamist Ennahdha party, which won the majority of seats in the Constitutional elections in October 2011, did not present a presidential candidate. It previously proposed a consensual candidate, but representatives of Ennahdha at the National Constituent Assembly endorsed different presidential candidates.
In order to be eligible for the presidential candidacy, each candidate is supposed to collect at least ten signatures of endorsement from National Constituent Assembly members, or from 10, 000 Tunisian citizens representing ten districts.
ISIE will announce a preliminary list of approved candidates on Friday. Then these candidates will be given a chance to file an appeal in case of dissatisfaction with rejection reasons. The final and official list of approved presidential candidates is to be publicly announced on Oct. 25.
