To be eligible for office, one must be a voter with a Tunisian mother or father and be at least 23 years old the day candidacy is announced.

Under the original Tunisian constitution, the Chamber of Deputies theoretically possessed great lawmaking powers, and even had the right to censure the government by a two-thirds majority.

Even then, in the five elections held before the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, they never accounted for more than 19 percent of the total seats in the chamber.

During the last few years of Ben Ali's tenure, the chamber took an increased role in debating national policy.

[citation needed] After the Tunisian Revolution of 2011, the Chamber of Deputies was replaced by the Assembly of the Representatives of the People as Tunisia's legislature.