Tunisian voters go to the polls

Tunis - Tunisian voters went to the polls yesterday in elections which President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his ruling party are virtually assured of winning. Around 3.3 million people are registered to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections and some 200,000 outside the country have already done so. Officials said 66.49 per cent of the electorate had voted in the first four hours of polling. State television showed Mr Ben Ali casting his vote at Carthage, near the presidential palace.