242. Constitutional law n° 2003-34 of 13th May 2003, bearing dispensatory provisions in the 3rd paragraph of Article 40 of the Constitution, specified that the candidature is not limited to only the first leader of the Party, as was the case in 1999, but it is up to each of the five Political Parties, represented in the National Assembly, to propose one of the members of its executive body as candidate for the presidential elections. 243. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that the election of the President of the Republic in two rounds, instituted with the help of the constitutional reform of the 1st June 2002, constitutes a political achievement which reaffirms the need to better establish the sovereignty of the people. 244. During the presidential elections of 2004, President Ben Ali had three other candidates opposing him, namely, the Secretary General of the « United Peoples’ Party », the Chairman of the « Liberalist Social Party » and a member of the political Bureau of the « Ettajdid Movement ». 245. By virtue of the constitutional law n° 99-52 of 30th June 1999, bearing dispensatory provisions in the 3rd paragraph of Article 40 of the Constitution, a similar competition took place during the presidential elections of 1999 with two candidates and sanctioned the pluralism of the candidatures for the first time. They were the Secretary General of the « Unionist Democratic Union » and the Secretary General of the « United Peoples’ Party ». 246. The rate of participation in the presidential elections of 2004 was 91.52%. The rate of participation registered during the presidential elections which took place in October 1999 was 91.4%. B) The Legislative Elections 247. Organic law n° 93-118 of 27th December 1993, amending and completing the electoral Code, amended the voting system. This amendment, which was the subject of a major consultation with the representatives of the Political Parties and the other structures and organs of civil society, instituted the majority system with the introduction of proportional representation in order to guarantee the representation of the Opposition in the National Assembly. The amendments introduced in the electoral Code are also aimed at better reinforcing the democratic choices, at concretizing pluralism and at sanctioning the concept of justice and national harmony. Thus: - the minimum age required for the submission of candidature for the legislative elections had been reduced from 25 to 23 years and this under the terms of the organic law n° 98-93 of 6th November 1998, amending and completing certain provisions of the electoral Code, which broadened the field of participation in political affairs; - allowances are granted by the State to each candidate to the presidency of the Republic and to each list of candidates to the legislative elections, as contribution to the financing of the electoral campaign; - the State budget bears the costs of preparing the electoral lists, their publication, their revision as well as the printing and distribution of ballot papers and voters’ cards; - the sponsorship for the candidatures to the legislative elections had been eliminated. 54