A majority of Tunisian Constituent Assembly members on Thursday voted for a prominent law professor to become the head of the country’s High Electoral Commission. Law professor Mohamed Shafiq Sersar won 153 votes, out of a total of 203 votes in a heavily attended session. The assembly on Wednesday picked the nine members of the independent commission, while Sersar proved to be a unifying figure for everybody inside the representative body. The High Electoral Commission is due to start its mission by working on a series of technical issues before settling on the date of general elections.
Selecting the members and the head of the High Electoral Commission is an important step on the way of implementing a roadmap aiming to end the country’s political crisis.
Political tension has engulfed Tunisia since the February assassination of opposition leader Choukri Belaid.
The crisis intensified after a second assassination targeting leftist leader Mohamed al-Brahmi in July, which prompted mass rallies calling for the resignation of the Islamist-led government and the formation of a national salvation government.
Full Article: Tunisia names law professor head of electoral commission | Middle East | World Bulletin.
