The observers recruited and trained by the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) during the electoral period have the de jure and de facto status of judicial police. Their reports are therefore considered reliable and authentic, said official spokesman for the ISIE, Mohamed Tlili Mnasri. In order to dispel any misunderstanding about a possible conflict between the ISIE and the judiciary on this issue, Mnasri pointed out that this status granted to the ISIE could in no way affect or interfere with the prerogatives originally granted to the judicial police officers, who reserve the full right to intervene in the event of electoral offences. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a study day held on Wednesday on the subject of "electoral offences and the division of powers between representatives of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the judicial police", the spokesman stressed that the reports drawn up by the ISIE observers are authentic and therefore have evidential value. To be clear," he ad ded, "in matters of misdemeanours and crimes, the Public Prosecutor's Office has general jurisdiction to bring a public action, to refer it to a court and to determine the rules for the trial. As far as electoral matters are concerned, this is a general competence that is exclusively vested in the ISIE, which, according to article 142 of the Electoral Code and article 20 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, is obliged to inform the Public Prosecutor of any electoral offence. The ISIE spokesman added that, in certain cases, the ISIE could call in the judicial police without going through the public prosecutor's office. This is a "de facto competence" granted by the legislator to the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) when it comes to suspending a meeting or rally or removing posters to prevent the repetition of an electoral offence. Mnasri also pointed out that the ISIE had organised training sessions in different regions of the country for candidates in the local elections. In this context, it has done its best to shed sufficient light on electoral offences during the campaign period, while ensuring that the rules on campaign financing and the relationship between candidates and the public authorities are made clear. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse