Tunisia ready to guard its polls
There will be no room for terrorism either during the elections or after them, Anouar Gharbi said.
By Esma Ben Said
TUNIS
Tunisia's security forces are fully ready to secure the country's parliamentary elections, which will kick off on Sunday, an advisor of Tunisian President Muncef Mazouki said Saturday.
"There will be no room for terrorism either during the elections or after them," Anouar Gharbi, a foreign affairs advisor to the Tunisian President, told Anadolu Agency by phone.
He said a security operation carried out by Tunisia's security agencies in Oued Ellil, a city of the northern province of Manouba, would not hinder the elections.
Gharbi said the operation would even give encouragement to Tunisians to go to polling stations to cast ballots in the elections.
"Everybody now understands that this country can slide into terrorism at any time," Gharbi said.
He added that Tunisians were aware that some people do their best to hinder the electoral process and cause harm to Tunisia, noting that the Tunisian government was also aware of the challenges it had ahead.
"The idea is that we have to overcome these challenges," Gharbi said. "We are ready to confront them," he added.
Gharbi did not, however, rule out the possibility that some attacks might happen on election day, but he said the authorities would be on their guard. He added that Tunisian authorities had already taken all the necessary measures against any possible scenario in this regard.
"Tunisians will vote for their country and against terrorism at one and the same time," Gharbi said. "They have realized that terrorism poses dangers to them everywhere," he added.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Aroui said on Friday that a terrorist cell that was liquidated in the northern province of Manouba used to recruit youths for the sake of organizations fighting in Syria.
He added in a press conference in the Tunisian capital that policemen had killed six terrorists, including five women, and arrested a male terrorist and a woman during an operation on a home in Oued Ellil.
Tunisians prepare to go to polling stations across their country on Sunday to select members for the legislature, the first to be formed after a popular uprising ousted long serving Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
The North African country is also due to hold its presidential elections in November.
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