sense, and promoted the building of a climate of confidence and tranquillity between its citizens and the Government. The objective of this undertaking is to allow each citizen to contribute, of his own free will, to the development effort and to the construction of a democratic society based on the promotion of human rights, tolerance and mutual respect. 19. Organic law n° 2002-97 of 25th November 2002 sanctioning the permanent revision of the electoral lists was introduced to strengthen the right to participation, the transparency of the elections and the re-stimulation of the pluralist democratic process. Thus, special attention had been given to the strengthening of the credibility of the electoral list and to the transparency of the electoral operations with the aim of facilitating the exercise of their civic rights for all voters under appropriate conditions and to allow the opposition to bring its contribution to the enrichment of the political activities and to the promotion of the pluralist democratic process. In this connection, and in order to increase the financial support to the Political Parties and guarantee them the best means of action, it had been decided, under the terms of the law n° 2006-7 of 15th February 2006, amending the law n° 97-48 of 21st July 1997, relative to the funding of Political Parties by the State, to increase the subvention accorded by the State to Political Parties, which has from henceforth risen to 135 thousand dinars per annum. 20. It is to be noted that other reforms have also promoted the increase in the number of initiatives aimed at consolidating local democracy. The strengthening of decentralization and devolution as well as the transfer of new prerogatives to the Governors and the municipalities has resulted in the development of municipal activities and the extension of the responsibilities of the regional councils. Thanks to these reforms, the municipal elections which took place on the 28th May 2000 and on the 8th May 2005, facilitated the reinforcement of the local democratic process. III- Respect for the Freedom of Opinion and of Expression 21. Article 8 of the Constitution of the Tunisian Republic proclaims that « the freedom of opinion, of expression, of the press, of publication, of assembly and of association are guaranteed and exercised under the conditions defined by the law ». The freedom of conscience, of writing, of publishing, that of the press are fundamental elements of civil and political rights. Democracy, which is supposed to be a power exercised by all, cannot develop without the full respect for these liberties. The consolidation of this right and the strengthening of this liberty remain an issue which concerns all citizens, all the nation’s resources. It is a matter of ensuring that the information sector reflects the specificities of Tunisian society, as well as its concerns and aspirations. 22. The information and communication sector has since 1995 registered significant institutional and legislative achievements destined to promote the performance and contents of the audiovisual and written means of information and to strengthen the process of intellectual and political pluralism. The promotion of the information sector is a consubstantial fact in the promotion of civil and political rights. Numerous reforms had been undertaken to enable this sector 9