Tunisia's assembly appoints key electoral council

Members of the Tunisian parliament cast their vote over the composition of an election commission that will oversee a vote later this year in Tunis January 8, 2014. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's national assembly appointed an electoral council on Wednesday to oversee elections this year, a key step in the country's transition to democracy three years after its "Arab Spring" uprising.

Selecting the nine-member electoral council was a key part of an agreement to overcome months of political crisis between the ruling Islamist party, Ennahda, and its secular opposition over how to shape the country's young democracy.