The Independent Higher Authority for the Elections (ISIE) is ready for the launch on December 2, of the campaign for the December 24 local council elections, said ISIE President Farouk Bouasker. The campaign will mainly be conducted in the territorial districts (imadas), where candidates will be in direct contact with voters, he told the reporters on Friday as he visited the Election Campaign Monitoring Centre. The local elections are "special" as there will be no major media campaigns or massive funding, and candidates will be mainly dependent on the support of the locals of their imadas, he pointed out. However, the ISIE field staff, who have been trained in the rules of electoral campaigning, will be deployed in all constituencies so as to monitor the candidates' campaign activities. Bouasker further highlighted the important role of the Election Campaign Monitoring Centre which includes several monitoring units equipped with cutting-edge technology so as to help the staff monitor, at any time, the ac tivities of candidates covered by the media of all types. As of Saturday, the monitoring staff will be tasked with submitting daily reports on the electoral campaign to the ISIE Council, he added. Sanctions will be decided based on these reports, depending on the nature of the committed electoral crime. ISIE's executives will be in permanent contact with all campaign monitoring personnel, using a mobile application designed to facilitate their task and guide them if necessary, said Bouasker. Director of Legal Affairs at the ISIE Imed Abdelli explained that the Electoral Campaign Monitoring Centre is made up of five units: the Open Space Monitoring Unit (social networks), the Campaign Financing Monitoring Unit, the Print and Electronic Media Monitoring Unit, the Legal Affairs and Litigation Unit, the Audiovisual Media Monitoring Unit and the Candidates' Activities Monitoring Unit. The election campaign for the local elections will kick off December 2 and will run till December 22. The local elections wil l be held on December 24 in 2,155 constituencies to elect 279 councils as a first step towards the creation of the National Council of Regions and Districts, the second parliamentary chamber, pursuant to the 2022 Constitution.
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