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The country's independent election commission estimated that 90 per cent of registered voters turned out [Reuters] |
The moderate Islamist party al-Nahda has claimed that it has won more
than 40 per cent of seats in Tunisia's 217-member consitutent
assembly, following the country's historic election.
"The first confirmed results show that al-Nahda has obtained first
place nationally and in most districts," Abelhamid Jlassi, the party's
campaign manager, said at a news conference citing its own election
monitors' reports.
The party's claim that it won 90 seats came ahead of an announcement
by ISIE, the country's independent election commission, of
the provisional results for overseas seats.
The leaders of two leftist parties, the Congress Party for the
Republic (CPR) and Ettakol, said they were fighting for second place,
while the leader of the centre-left Progressive Democratic Party (PDP)
conceded defeat on Monday evening.
"Al-Nahda is certainly the majority, but there are two other
democratic entities, Ettakatol and the CPR, who were weak at the start
but now find themselves in the position to contribute to political life
and usher a rational modernity in this Arab-Muslim country," Khalil
Zaouia, Ettakatol's number two, said.
Late on Monday, the Reuters news agency, citing senior al-Nahda
official Ali Larayd, reported that al-Nahda was considering forming a
coalition with both Ettakol and the CPR.
Overseas seats followed the trends established for domestic
districts, with nine of the 18 seats reserved for overseas Tunisians
going to al-Nahda, four to Ettakatol, three to the CPR, and one each to
the Democratic Modernist Coalition (PDM) and Aridha Chaabia, according
to an announcement by the country's election commission.
Samir Dilou, a member of al-Nahda's political bureau, said that his party had won "not far from 40 per cent" of the vote.
"The trend is clear. The PDP is badly placed. It is the decision of
the Tunisian people. I bow before their choice," PDP leader Maya Jribi
told the AFP news agency at her party's headquarters in Tunis earlier in
the day.
"We will be there to defend a modern, prosperous and moderate
Tunisia," she said, adding the PDP would "clearly be in opposition".
'Compromise'
Jlassi, speaking from al-Nahda's headquarters in the Tunis suburb of
Montplaisir, said that his party's priority was to restore stability to
Tunisia.
Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri reports from Tunis |
"We would like to reassure our trade and economic partners, and all
actors and investors, we hope very soon to have stability and the right
conditions for investment in Tunisia," he said.
"The priorities for Tunisia are clear. They are stability, conditions
for a dignified life and the building of democratic institutions in
Tunisia. We are open to anyone who shares these objectives. We are open
to all forces without exception," he said.
Some estimates go so far as to give al-Nahda more than 50 per cent of the vote.
Al-Nahda has not competed in an election since 1989, when
ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali allowed individual candidates from
the party to participate before allegedly tampering with the results.
Tunisia’s independent electoral body was created early in the year after Ben Ali was forced from power by a popular uprising.
In the space of a few months, it has written new electoral rules and
created electoral lists from scratch, receiving high praise on Monday
from a delegation sent by the National Democratic Institute, a US-based
organisation that helped monitor Sunday’s vote.
"This election to me was hands down, the best, the most promising
I’ve ever seen, including in the United States," Jane Harman, president
of the Woodrow Wilson International Center and former US congresswoman
from California, said at a press conference in Tunis.
Delivering conclusive results could prove to be the biggest challenge
for the ISIE, faced with pressure to promptly announce the results from
many Tunisians, while others demand investigations into allegations of
election irregularities.
Outside the media centre run by the electoral authorities, a group of
around 30 protesters called on the electoral commission to take action
for what they said were alleged violations of the electoral code by
al-Nahda and other parties.
Some carried signs saying "30 TND [$21] = one vote".
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In depth coverage of first Arab Spring vote |
Adnan Ben Hamachia, who had been head of an independent list "The Big
Project" in the election said those who had lost should concede defeat
and the electoral authority should deliver the results promptly.
"All the media around the world are reporting that al-Nahda won
between 50 and 55 per cent," he told Al Jazeera. "Yet the ISIE is
refusing to give any results. Something is happening."
He said that he was willing to accept the provisional results suggesting he had lost, and that others should do the same.
"I don't support al-Nahda, but I understand that many people, especially in poor areas, voted for them."
The newly-elected assembly will rewrite the constitution and also
choose a new interim government and set dates for parliamentary and
presidential elections.
Boubaker Bethabet, the ISIE
secretary-general, said 90 per cent of the estimated 4.1 million
citizens who registered ahead of the poll cast their votes.
More
than 11,000 candidates ran in the election, representing 80 political
parties. Several thousand candidates ran as independents.
The
electoral system was designed to include as many parties as possible in
drafting the new constitution, which is expected to take a year.
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Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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