Voting ends in Tunisia's parliamentary election

TUNIS, Tunisia

Voting in parliamentary election in Tunisia has ended with low participation at 6.00 p.m. local time (1700GMT) on Sunday.

It was the second parliamentary election since the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.

Polling stations opened nationwide at 08.00 a.m. local time (0700GMT).

Around 7.1 million Tunisians were eligible to cast ballot in Sunday’s polls to elect the 217 members of parliament.

Only 10 out of 220 registered political parties in Tunisia were fielding candidates in all 33 districts in the general election -- 27 of them in the country, and 6 abroad.

In total, over 15,000 candidates from 18 diasporas competed for seats in the Tunisian parliament.

The country's High Election Commission said the domestic turnout at 2.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) was 23.49%, while the figure abroad was only 12%.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev