The CAORDT has proposed that the national constituent assembly will have 218 seats, 199 for Tunisians at home and 19 for Tunisians living abroad. They will be elected in 33 constituencies, 27 in Tunisia and six abroad. The government has already agreed that the assembly would be elected through a system of proportional representation through party lists, rather than first past the post with individual candidates, and also that there would be equal numbers of female and male candidates.

It has also agreed that anyone who, during the last ten years, served in the government of Mr Ben Ali or held senior positions in the former ruling party, together with Mr Ben Ali's former advisers and all those who signed petitions in 2010 calling for Mr Ben Ali to stand for a sixth term of office in 2014, will not be allowed to stand as candidates (although we expect that the interim president, Foued Mebazaa, who is drawing up the list, will try to limit the number of people affected).