UPDATE - Voting closes in Tunisia’s 1st local elections amid boycott by political parties

UPDATES WITH DETAILS, REVISES HEADLINE, ADDS CHANGES

By Yemna Selmi

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - Voting closed in Tunisia’s first local elections on Sunday amid a boycott from political parties.

Polling stations closed at 6:00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), according to the country’s electoral commission.

Voting began at 8 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) in 4,685 polling stations across the North African country.

Voter turnout reached 7.68% three hours before the closure of the polling stations, electoral commission chief Farouk Bouasker told a press conference in the capital Tunis.

More than 9 million voters were eligible to cast their ballot in Sunday’s polls to choose their local representatives, according to data from the election commission.

The voting was the first step in determining the composition of a new Local and Regional National Council.

Parties across the political spectrum boycotted the election, an Anadolu correspondent reported.

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that has aggravated the country's economic conditions since 2021 when President Kais Saied ousted the government and dissolved parliament.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi and Mohammad Sio