Tunisia heads for second round vote

AL SEBSI LEADS MARZOUQI WITH 39.46% OF VOTES IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The head of Tunisia’s anti- Islamist Nida Tunis party, Beji Qaid Al Sebsi, leads the country’s presidential election with 39.46 per cent of votes, six percentage points ahead of incumbent Munsif Marzouqi, results showed yesterday.

Because there was no outright winner, a second round of voting will now be held, with the date depending on any appeals, the head of the ISIE elections body Shafiq Sarsar told reporters.

Marzouqi secured 33.43 per cent of votes cast in an election European Union observers yesterday called “pluralist and transparent”.

Leftwing figurehead Hamma Hammami came third with 7.82 per cent, followed by London- based Islamist entrepreneur Heshmi Hamdi ( 5.75 per cent) and wealthy businessman and football club president Salim Riahi ( 5.55 per cent).

Sunday’s election was the first time Tunisians had voted freely for their head of state since independence from France in 1956.

Marzouqi was elected president at the end of 2011 by the National Constituent Assembly under a coalition deal with the then ruling Islamist Al Nahda party, which came second in a parliamentary election last month behind Nida Tunis.

Minor irregularities

Annemie Neyts-Uytterbroeck, who headed the EU observer mission in Sunday’s presidential election, described any irregularities as “minor”.

“The exercise of freedom of expression and assembly was guaranteed,” she said.

The contest for the expected runoff had begun even before the first round result became official on Tuesday.

If Al Sebsi wins he will still have to form a coalition government, even with Al Nahda, because Nida Tunis fell short of securing an absolute majority in October.