In first for Tunisia, police and soldiers head to polls

Most Tunisians will vote on May 6 in the municipal polls -- the first since the North African country's 2011 revolution -- but members of the security forces cast their ballots a week earlier.

"This is a historic day. For the first time we are exercising a right of citizenship," a police officer told AFP at a polling station in central Tunis, asking to remain anonymous.

Under the long rule of ex-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, authorities outlawed voting by soldiers and police, insisting security forces remain outside of politics.

But after Ben Ali's fall, long-banned police unions formed and called for the right to vote.