In Tunisia, a coalition between the secular Nidaa Tounes party and the Islamist party Ennadha is likely after Sunday’s Parliamentary elections.
Preliminary results give Nidaa Tounes, led by Beji Caid Essebsi, 83 of the 217 seats. Ennadha, which has been the leading party in the governing coalition since elections in October 2011, has 68 seats.
The Free Patriotic Union and the Popular Front followed with 17 and 12 seats, respectively.
Essebsi said on Sunday night that there were “positive indications” Nidaa Tounes was ahead.
President Rachid Ghannouchi sent Ennadha’s congratulations to Nidaa Tounes through his daughter Soumaya in a message on Twitter.
Lotfi Zitoun, a senior Ennahda official, conceded defeat and reiterated the party’s call for the formation of a unity government in the interest of the country: “We have accepted this result, and congratulate the winner.”
Nidaa Tounes’ leader Essebsi served Interior, Defense, and Foreign Affairs Minister under Tunisia’s founding president, Habib Bourguiba. He was Parliamentary Speaker under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was deposed in 2011 after 28 years in power.
Tunisia has seen as the starting location of the 2010-2011 “Arab Spring”. Following the self-immolation of an unemployed fruit and vegetable vendor, mass protests challenged Ben Ali and forced his departure in January 2011.
(Featured Photo: EPA)
