Tunisian president welcomes opposition participation with concrete action

Zien El-Abedin Ben Ali, the Tunisian president, has decided to approve proposed changes to the section of the constitution that deals with election law, in order to secure the participation of the opposition in the parliament and local councils with at least 20% of seats, even if the actual percentage of seats won by the opposition was lower.

There will be amendments to the election draft section to ensure the success of this constitutional revision. This comes as a confirmation of political will to achieve parliamentary political diversity.

The current means of balloting doesn't permit the weak opposition to have a seat in the parliament or the local councils. Under the new system, the opposition will be offered opportunities to take 20% of the nearly 800 local council seats.

The Tunisian president pointed out that it's possible to agree on a form that will enable several candidates to participate in the presidential election, which has had only one candidate in each election since 1956.