Taking part in country’s elections, hundreds of enthusiastic Tunisian expatriates cast their votes in the presidential polls at a polling station at the Embassy and Consulate.
The voter turnout in Doha polling stations was the “highest compared to other voting booths established in various other Arab countries” for overseas Tunisians. “Voter turnout in Doha reached around 40 percent and the number of registered voters in Doha are over 6,000. Tunisian Embassy in Doha opened its offices to members of the Tunisian community living in Qatar for three days from Friday to Sunday (yesterday) from 8am to 6pm at the Embassy and Consulate so that registered voters can cast their votes,” said Tawfiq Sultan Rabhi, Local Coordinator of the Independent Committee for Elections.
The voting process in Doha’s offices was facilitated by availability of polling booths at two places: one booth at the Embassy and two at the Consulate which made it easier for everyone to vote especially the families, Rahbi told The Peninsula.
On the voters’ turnout, he said it was better on the first day (Friday) and satisfactory on the following two days.
The Peninsula spoke to some voters about their participation. Somaya, a Tunisian expatriate, said, “We were keen to come and vote to choose the new President democratically. This is our duty and supervisors here provided us all the help.”
For his part, Waeel, commented: “I came to perform my national duty of choosing the new President through vote. All things have been done normally.” “I am very proud of this election and that we are electing our President with freedom and democracy. Everyone today came to perform his duty because it is our responsibility to choose the leader who will govern us.”
In a statement to Qatar News Agency, Independent Higher Authority for the Elections (ISIE) Vice-President, Farourk Bouaskar, said that the voter turnout in the early presidential polls nationwide yesterday hit 16.3 percent until 1pm. He also expected the percentage to reach between 40 and 50%. Voting started at 8am in 4, 325 polling centres and 13,115 polling stations, polling places throughout the country and closed at 6pm, except for those which were set to open at 10am and close at 4pm over security reasons.
