Bin Ali and three opposition members compete in the presidential elections

The Constitutional Council in Tunisian announced yesterday that President Zine al-Abidin Ben Ali and other three candidates of opposition parties have their documents accepted for the Presidential elections set on October 24.

In a statement issued in the local press, the council said that the candidates are Muhammad Bu Sheiha, the secretary general of the people's unity party of socialist inclination, Muhammad Ali al- Helwani, the leading figure in al-Tajdid ( renewal party), a leftist secular party, and Munir al-Baji, the leader if the liberal social party, in addition to the Tunisian President Ben Ali the candidate for the ruling democratic constitutional coalition party.

The statement said that "relying on the requirements of the constitution and the elections law and following deliberations and precise checking of documents submitted by every and each candidate; the constitutional council considers the nominations as valid and are accepted." Tunisian parliamentary sources said that the list of the candidates for the presidential elections is final and will be confined to the four candidates.