test will allow us to see if there are any problems and to fix them so that we can hold elections in the best possible conditions," said ISIE member Larbi Chouika, clearly relieved at the result.

About 60 "voters" were given ballot papers for the test; a big piece of paper with the names and logos of each of the contenders, and a blank box to be marked, or not.

With electoral agents guiding the process, 35-year-old Basma was the first to have her identity checked before disappearing into a polling booth and re-emerging to drop her paper in the ballot box.

Her left index finger had been marked with a blue indelible ink.

Closely watched by a group of journalists, Basma took her role seriously. "I feel like I really voted," she said, refusing to divulge her choice. "It is personal."

The 35-year-old will vote for the first time in her life next Sunday, this time for real.

"I wanted to take part in these test elections so as to understand the electoral operation. The process was not clear to me, and I do not regret having taken part today, because on the day of the vote I will be at ease," she said.

Marion Volkermann, an official of the Carter Center non-governmental organisation which has 50 election observers in Tunisia, said Sunday's test was "very positive".

Messages on television, newspapers and special brochures have been urging people to take part in next week's vote, for which apathy is a big concern.

Only about half the country's eligible voters took part in a registration campaign, and opinion polls have suggested that many still have no idea who they will vote for.

For the first time in decades, Tunisians will not know the outcome of the vote before even going to the polls.

The father of independent Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, was president for life while his successor, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, ousted in January, always won elections of questionable fairness -- his worst score was 89.6 percent in 2009.

Some 7.3 million potential voters will have the opportunity on October 23 to elect 217 members of the constituent assembly, out of some 10,000 candidates.

Among its tasks will be the appointment of a caretaker government for the duration of the constitution drafting process, which will be followed by fresh elections.

Campaigning had been marred by occasional fits of violence, mainly by conservative Salafist groups, including an attack Friday night on a television director's house after the broadcast of a film deemed offensive to Muslims.

Islamist party Ennahda, banned under Ben Ali, is the favourite to win the biggest block of votes in the vote in a Muslim-majority country hitherto backed by a secular constitution.

Human rights activists and secularists have called on Facebook for a protest in Tunis Sunday afternoon, to ensure "we don't leave the streets to the bearded men", referring to conservative Muslims.

© 2011 AFP