The exceptional campaign to update polling stations has resulted in 680,271 updates being recorded, said Farouk Bouasker, president of the Independent High Authority for the Elections (ISIE). The number of polling station consultations via SMS reached 2 million 327 thousand 918, which reflects the interest of citizens in these local elections, he said. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday on ISIE's preparations for the local elections, Bouasker pointed out that voters have one last opportunity to update their registration using the various means provided by the election commission, i.e. until December 8. "This exceptional campaign is open to all voters, with the exception of candidates who have been definitively accepted and members of the sponsoring committee," he said. The total number of voters is 9 million 79 thousand 271, of whom 51% are women, he said, adding that 47% are aged between 36 and 60. The total number of polling stations is estimated at 4,685, the number of polling centres at 8,190 and the total number of members of polling centres and polling stations at 34,000 and 384 agents. Regarding requests for accreditation of observers and journalists, the president of ISIE said that no request that met all the required conditions had been refused so far, adding that the number of representatives of candidates was expected to reach 40,382. In this context, he pointed out that the commission had launched a training programme for candidate representatives through regional meetings during the last week of the campaign. Bouasker said a total of 3,165 accreditation requests have been received, including 900 from journalists (including 58 foreign journalists) and 2,265 from observers, including 40 foreign observers. ISIE spokesman Mohamed Tlili Mansri announced that a meeting with representatives of the public prosecutor's office would be held on Wednesday in four governorates to discuss coverage of the election campaign. He pointed out that the ISIE is responsible for all aspects of the election s, including monitoring media coverage of the campaign. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse