Tunisia: Second round likely in presidential election
November 24, 2014, 12:19 pm

Nearly 3.3. million Tunisians voted in a landmark election seen as a turning point in the country’s democratic process [Xinhua]

But with tallying under way, most experts believe that the election will go into a second round as none of the 24 candidates are likely to win the required 50+1 per cent to be declared president.

The voter turnout – at more than 63 per cent of the eligible 5.2 million people – comes just four weeks after Tunisia held its second parliamentary elections.

Those elections, held on October 26, swept the largely secularist Nidaa Tounes party into power.

Its candidate Beji Caid Essebsi, 87, appears to have taken the lead with more than 45 per cent of the vote.

His closest rival, interim President Mouncef Marzouki, is believed to have gained nearly 30 per cent of the vote.

“Tunisians want real change,” Nidaa Tounes spokesperson Firas Defrash told the media.

He said Marzouki’s ballot numbers seem to indicate that he had backing from the Islamist Nahda party, which did not field a candidate of its own.

Nahda, which had won Tunisia’s first parliamentary election since ousting former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, resigned from government last year in favor of a democratic process that ensures the security of the country.

Larbi Sadiki, an expert on Arab democratization, said that Nahda had long pledged not to field a candidate in the November 23 presidential election.

“What matters is that the decision to search for a consensual presidential candidate is better for democratic transition and overall power-sharing in a fledgling democracy,” Sadiki wrote on this website last month.

Although election results will not be announced until the end of the week, Essebsi and Marzouki are like to face off in a second round of elections on December 28.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies