Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamist party Ennahda, gestures with his wife and two daughters at a polling station in Tunis yesterday.

AFP/Tunis

Tunisians voted yesterday in an election seen as pivotal to establishing democracy in the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings, with security forces deployed heavily to avert extremist attacks.

More than 5mn Tunisians were eligible to elect a 217-seat parliament, after an interim body drafted a new constitution in January as part of the country’s path to democracy.

Two hours before the polls closed at 1700 GMT, turnout had reached 50.84%, said Chafik Sarsar head of the ISIE body organising the election.

Tunisia has been hailed as a beacon of hope compared with other chaos-hit countries like Libya and Egypt where regimes were also toppled.

But its transition has been tested by militant attacks and social unrest, while poverty and unemployment which were key factors that sparked the 2011 revolt continue to be unresolved.

Officials described the vote as “historic” and a “defining moment” while voters voiced hope a new parliament would help restore political and economic stability as well as law and order. 

“The spotlight is on us and the success of this (vote) is a guarantee for the future... a glimmer of hope for this region’s young people,” said Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa as he cast his ballot.

Jomaa had warned of possible attacks aimed at disrupting the country’s first post-revolution parliamentary election, after a deadly standoff on Friday between police and suspected militants that killed a policeman and six insurgents, five of whom were women.

Authorities deployed 80,000 troops and police to protect voters but the day passed without any reports of unrest.

With vote-counting under way—results are expected by Thursday at the latest—the head of the EU’s election observer mission, Annemie Neyts-Uytterbroeck, said voting had been “more than satisfactory”. 

Several parties competed for a seat in the new parliament, some fronted by stalwarts of veteran dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali who was ousted in the 2011 revolt.

His ouster ushered in a coalition government and interim president that won praise from the international community.

But the birthplace of the Arab Spring protests flirted with disaster.

A rise in militant activity last year when two opposition lawmakers were assassinated by suspected Islamists—long suppressed under Ben Ali—threatened to derail the road to democracy.

Although they have publicly sought to distance themselves from the repression and intimidation practised under Ben Ali, many of those who took part in the revolution are angered at the prospect of former regime figures returning to parliament. 

Others accuse the Islamist movement Ennahda—Tunisia’s largest party—and its secular allies which have been running the country of failing to address people’s security needs and shore up the economy.

“Frankly, I certainly did not come to vote out of a sense of duty or of any conviction in (the candidates)... But after everything we went through the past three years, I hope Tunisians will make a mature and responsible choice,” said teacher Safa Helali.

Another voter, 69-year-old Tozeur Mezni, said: “It is time to turn the page and build the future of the country... we need a clear path.”  

The two women were among voters who exited polling stations with their index fingers dyed in ink—a measure designed to prevent people casting multiple ballots—held up in celebration.

The election pitted main parties Ennahda against its secular rival Nidaa Tounes, and an array of leftist and Islamist groups, with analysts saying no single group is expected to win a majority.

Ennahda has proposed the formation of a government of national unity after the election and has not put forward a candidate for a November 23 presidential vote, keeping its options open over whom it will back.

In the run-up to yesterday’s election, Ennahda head Rachid Ghannouchi said he does not rule out an alliance with Nidaa Tounes.

Officials in the secular party have, meanwhile, predicted they would evenly share with Ennahda around 150 of the 217 seats being contested for a five-year term in parliament.

Yesterday Nidaa Tounes chief Beji Caid Essebsi, a frontrunner in the November presidential polls, cast his ballot saying he had “voted for Tunisia”.

Ghannouchi, meanwhile, said he was encouraged by long queues at the polling stations, saying this “shows Tunisians are very attached to democracy”.