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Tunisia's presidential candidates began registering their candidacies on Friday for the anticipated September elections called after the death of 92-year-old leader Beji Caid Essebsi.
Eight potential candidates, including media magnate Nabil Karoui, submitted their papers to the country's electoral commission in North Africa.
Prime Minister Youssef Chahed is not yet officially registered, although his party announced on Wednesday that he would participate in the elections.
Originally scheduled for November, the vote was postponed until September 15, following the death of Essebsi at the end of July.
Karoui was charged with money laundering this month after declaring his intention to go to the polls.
He was nearly expelled from the race in June when Parliament pbaded an amended electoral code that would prohibit any candidate who had submitted "favors in cash or in kind" the year before the vote.
But Essebsi neither rejected nor promulgated the bill, leaving the door open to Karoui.
The media mogul was an active supporter of Essebsi's election in 2014 and became the prime rival of the prime minister.
Chahed, who studied agricultural engineering, entered politics after the 2011 uprising that toppled autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Launched at the beginning of the year, its Tahia Tounes became the second party in parliament behind Ennahdha, of Islamist inspiration.
Mohamed Abbou, longtime opponent of Ben Ali and head of the party of the Tunisian democratic current, also submitted his candidacy Friday.
He was joined by Abir Moussi, the only woman to stand for election.
She is leading a party formed from the remnants of Ben Ali's ruling party and has called for the exclusion of Islamists, including Ennahdha.
"Our priority today is to restore order in Tunisia" and the "fundamental principles" defended by its first president Habib Bourguiba, she told AFP after presenting her candidacy .
Candidates for the Presidency have until 9 August to register, the commission to provide a final list of candidates on 31 August.
The campaigns should run from September 2nd to 13th. Preliminary results should be announced two days after the ballot.
The date of the second round of the presidential election has not yet been fixed, but the electoral commission has announced that it will take place no later than 3 November.
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