Tunisia: Time to Register for Elections · Global Voices
Lina Ben Mhenni

This post is part of our special coverage Tunisia Revolution 2011.
Registration for electoral lists in Tunisia started on July 11, 2011, and will be closed on August 2. But statistics have shown that Tunisians are reluctant to register on the lists. That is why a group of Tunisian bloggers have launched an online campaign to urge people to register on the electoral lists for the election of a constituent assembly on October 23, 2011.
They chose the slogan: “Time to Register for their campaign” (see below right).
Moreover, a Facebook event was created under the name of ‘Bloguez pour l'inscription aux listes électorales‘. More than 309 bloggers confirmed their participation in the event organized on July 25 and 26.
"Time to Register for their campaign"
Some bloggers have already written posts, such as  Wallada [ar], who wrote:
أنا سجّلت اسمي في القائمات الانتخابيّة ، و كذلك الشّأن بالنّسبة إلى أفراد عائلتي و جيراني و أصدقائي . سجّلنا برغم كلّ شيء برغم  زخم الأحزاب و خطابها السّياسي غير المقنع ، و برغم الانفلات الأمني ، و الحرائق المُدَبَّرة ، برغم غلاء المعيشة و تدهور المقدرة الشرائيّة ، برغم الاحتكار و الاستغلال و استمرار البطالة ، برغم البطولات الورقيّة و العنف و الاستفزاز … برغم كلّ هذا و غيره سجّلنا
لأنّ الإحجام عن التسجيل سلبيّة و استقالة و السلبيّة لا تبني بلدا
Indeed boycott is negative. It is resignation. Negativism and resignation do not build a country.
And Another Brick in the Wall [ar] who wrote:
ناس عطاتها أعزّ ما عندها
ناس عطاتها عمر فناتو في خدمته
ناس عطاتها ايّامها ولياليها
وأنت؟ ما عندكش دقيقة ليها؟
برى قيّد باش كان تحبّ تعاود تبنيها
برى قيّد و ما تبخلش عليها!!
من وقتك، دقيقة أعطيها !!
قيّد….خير ما نبكيو عليها
Others offered it the dearest things to their hearts
Some dedicated both their days and nights to it
And you? Do you have a minute for it?
Go and register if you want to re-build it
Go and register don't be mean to it
Just offer it a minute from your time
Register otherwise we'll mourn it
Some people are calling for the registration on the electoral lists however, other people are calling for a boycott as  is the case for the group Takriz (‘Anger’ in Tunisian dialect), which called people on Twitter to boycott both the registration and the elections. They addressed the Tunisian government saying:
@Takriz: You want elections? Give us justice, transparency, financial control on the parties, a less absurd electoral code and foreign controllers.
As the date of the election of a constituent assembly is slowly approaching, many discussions and controversies are arising in Tunisia. Tunisians succeeded in ousting a dictator and are now trying to build a true democracy. Will they succeed in doing so?  Only time can reveal this.
This post is part of our special coverage Tunisia Revolution 2011.