Tunisia casts vote in first free election

October 25, 2011



Voters in Tunisia went to the polls on Sunday in the first elections for the country since the events of January this year, when was toppled after twenty three years by the  which triggered the.

The announced that 90 percent of the 4.1 millon registered citizens in the electorate had voted. 3.1 million citizens were eligible to vote but unregistered. It has been predicted that, an party, will become the  with about 40 percent of the vote, short of a. The actual result, according to, should be released late Monday or Tuesday.

There were queues hundreds of metres long throughout Tunisia from early morning. The polls started closing at around 19:00 local time (1800 UTC) but those already queued were allowed to vote.

United States President Barack Obama has congratulated the Tunisians stating that the is "an important step forward". David Cameron said they were "leading the way" for and the Middle East.