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![Electoral works count ballots a day after 3.2 million Tunisians voted for a new parliament [Xinhua]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/234538327_8-e1414436877661.jpg)
Electoral works count ballots a day after 3.2 million Tunisians voted for a new parliament [Xinhua]
The Tunisian Independent Elections Commission said that more than 3.2 million people – about 62 per cent of the 5.2 million eligible voters – cast their ballots on Sunday.
Although official results will not be announced until Thursday, a preliminary tally of votes so far shows the Nidaa Tounes party claiming a larger share of the 217-seat parliament.
Some reports indicate that Nidaa Tounes has 38 per cent of the vote to Nahda’s 31 per cent.
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, says that Nahda have 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.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has praised the Tunisian parliamentary elections, calling the entire process a decisive step forward in the country’s transition from authoritarian to democratic rule.
Source: Agencies
