Improving Voter Participation: Difficulties and Opportunities

Voters line up at a polling station in La Marsa

Tunisia’s first organized elections, held within 9 months of Ben Ali’s ouster on October 23, 2011, were billed as the first free and fair elections in the region. At a conference held by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) March 12-13, several electoral and legal experts discussed the challenges encountered in the October 23rd elections and evaluated potential remedies. One of the biggest issues faced last year was the relatively low proportion of registered voters.

The turnout of registered voters, which neared 90% in some districts, was hailed worldwide as a reassuring sign of Tunisia’s democratic ambitions. However, the turnout of Tunisians as a whole tells a different story.

The “Instance Superièure Independante pour les Elections,” or ISIE, is an independent electoral body set in place by the interim government. According to their post-electoral report from February 2012, only 51.24% of eligible voters – a possible 7.5 million voters – registered.

The ISIE is credited with a smooth execution of the elections, especially given the fragile socio-political atmosphere the country was experiencing after the popular uprising. The commission established several polling stations around the country and abroad, and ran many educational media campaigns.

While citizens were given a little over a month to voluntarily register (from July 11 until August 14, 2011), systemic registration was implemented in the few days prior to election day. The ISIE enabled this form of automatic registration in an effort to combat the possibility of low voter turn-out, which could invalidate the entire election.

Ballot boxes waiting to be counted in the ISIE headquarters in Sousse

The issues raised at the IFES conference show that merely ensuring systemic registration is not enough. Chafik Sarsar, the director of the political science department at the University of Law and Political Science in Tunis, cited the country’s high illiteracy rate as a barrier to voter registration efforts. According to Sarsar, around 1.6 million Tunisians above the age of 15 cannot read or write. Most of these citizens were not properly educated on the elections, its importance, and the consequences of not voting.

The issue of who is allowed to vote was also cited as a major reason in the “narrowing of political rights,” according to Abdessalem Lachaâl, a lawyer and professor at the University of Legal, Social, and Political Sciences in Tunis. Lachaâl claimed that many citizens holding a criminal record – no matter how petty the offense – were not allowed to vote. “Many of those who have already paid a fine or served time in prison due to a committed offense were prohibited from voting,” he said, hinting that the fault lies with poor communication between administrations.

Other speakers at the conference mentioned that Tunisia’s registration turnout was also hindered by a lack of clear and objective definitions of who was allowed to vote. For example, a 1968 law prohibits members of the armed forces from registering or running for elections. During the latest elections, Lachaâl claimed that many young citizens were prohibited from voting due to simply serving mandatory armed service requirements. It was suggested that the ISIE should become consistent with international norms and to rely more heavily on the country’s judicial system in defining voter eligibility.

Classrooms were converted into polling stations for the election

Finally, many experts at the conference emphasized that access to voting booths must be equalized, particularly for the ill or disabled. Organizing precinct-based mail-in or absentee ballots was highlighted as a method to overcome access issues.

After decades of ballot stuffing by the former regime, the ISIE must work to ensure the highest level of political participation to move the country towards a robust democracy. Comprehensive assessment of voter registration efforts and addressing registration challenges encountered in the previous elections hold the key to such participation. “Garnering the widest participation of voters is no easy feat, but it is one that we must begin planning for well in advance of the next elections,” concluded Chafik.