Member State of the African Union Following the 2011 Tunisian revolution, elections in Tunisia for the president and the unicameral Assembly of the Representatives of the People are scheduled to be held every five years.
Following the revolution, elections were held for a Constituent Assembly to decide on a new constitution for Tunisia.
From 1956 to 2011, the government and the Constitutional Democratic Rally—originally known as the Neo Destour (1934–1964) and the Socialist Destourian Party (1964–1988)—were effectively one.
He appointed a prime minister and cabinet, who play a strong role in the execution of policy.
This system was established by a provision of the country's Code of Personal Status, introduced by the former president Habib Bourguiba in 1956.
With Bourguiba's ouster in 1987, his successor, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, pushed through amendments limiting a president to three five-year terms, with no more than two in a row.
[citation needed] The assembly is directly elected by the people using party-list proportional representation, with the individual seats distributed between lists in a constituency using largest remainder method.
[5] The assembly is elected for a 5-year term, but can be dissolved earlier by the president following a failure to form a government, or a failed confidence vote.
There were 27 multi-member constituencies in Tunisia varying in size from four to ten seats and electing a total of 199.
It had 189 seats and members were elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms.
The full breadth of post-revolutionary political costs are discussed in The Great Tunisian Compromise.