TUNISIA’S MAIN Islamist party looked set to become the country’s biggest political bloc, with unofficial results from Sunday’s landmark election giving it more than 30 per cent of the vote.
Results of the first free elections in the country’s history are due today, but the Islamist party Ennahda, which was ruthlessly suppressed under the 23-year dictatorship of deposed president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, claimed it was the clear winner.
Tunisian radio read out voting figures obtained from districts in the northern town of Beja and other areas that showed Ennahda in the lead, with the centre-left Congress for the Republic party also doing well.
Ennahda said its own polling suggested the same and predicted its vote was more than 30 per cent. Citing its own unofficial tally of votes cast by the large Tunisian diaspora, the party said there were indications it had won half the vote abroad.
Ennahda spokesman Seyyed Ferjani told The Irish Timesits national vote might reach 40 per cent, but suggested anything higher could be "problematic" for the party. "When you get a huge percentage, then you could have coalitions forming against you," he said. "Also, there are extremely high expectations among the people, and to meet those expectations within a few months would be difficult."
Tunisia’s election was the first since the so-called Arab Spring began last winter, when the country’s revolutionaries forced Ben Ali from power.
Parties were vying for places in a 217-seat assembly charged with writing a new constitution and choosing an interim president and government.
As counting continued yesterday, the electoral commission said more than 90 per cent of some 4.1 million registered voters had cast their ballot, but there were as yet no figures for the 3.1 million others who did not register but could still vote at special polling stations.
With Ennahda’s commanding position becoming clear, some of its rivals conceded defeat.
“Ennahda succeeded where we failed. We need to unite once again,” said Riadh Ben Fadhal of the Democratic Modernist Coalition.
Despite its strong showing, Ennahda is unlikely to win a majority in the assembly, forcing it to make alliances with secularist parties. Ennahda describes itself as a moderate force and insists it will not challenge Tunisia’s traditionally strong women’s rights, but the prospect of it winning a share of power has alarmed many liberals.
Sunday’s election saw joyful scenes across Tunisia, with people queuing for hours at many stations for the chance to vote in a free election for the first time. Fears of attempts to sabotage the election came to nothing, while early indications were that the ballot was fair and free of fraud.
In one of the first reports by an international observation team, the US-based non-partisan National Democratic Institute said the vote was an “extraordinary achievement”.
“The response of the people was extremely impressive – the patience, the tolerance, the civic spirit. It seemed very cathartic,” said Jorge Fernando Quiroga, a former president of Bolivia, who was one of the institute’s 47 observers. “That spirit was so powerful that it overcame whatever procedural glitches you could point out.”
World leaders were quick to applaud the apparent success of the election, which may provide a model for other nascent democracies. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon praised Tunisians and urged those involved to “remain committed to the principles of inclusiveness and transparency through the remaining parts of the transition process”.
US president Barack Obama congratulated the Tunisian people on an “important step forward”, while French foreign minister Alain Juppé – whose government was humiliated by its botched handling of Tunisia’s revolution – said the vote confirmed the country’s “pioneering role” in the Arab Spring.