Region | Tunisia
Islamist party wins 50 seats in initial overseas count in Tunisia
Ennahdha, the Islamist party, has so far carried nine of the 18 seats allocated for Tunisian expatriates in Tunisia’s constituent assembly
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau chief
- Published: 00:59 October 25, 2011
Tunis: Ennahdha, the Islamist party, has so far carried nine of the 18 seats allocated for Tunisian expatriates in Tunisia’s constituent assembly.
According to preliminary results announced by the Independent Higher Commission for the Elections on Monday evening, Ennahdha carried two of three seats in Italy, four of ten seats in France, one of two seats in Germany and one of the two seats in the Americas and the rest of Europe. Two more seats from the Arab world and the rest of the world will be announced later.
The commission said that the results were temporary and would become final only after all legal aspects have been studied.
The Progress Democratic Party, tipped as the largest liberal political group, failed to win any of the seats, while the Congress Party carried four seats.
Ettakatol won three seats, two in France and one in Italy, while the Popular Petition for Justice and Development won one seat in France and the Modern Democratic Pole carried one seat, also in France.
The results confirm the seemingly inexorable emergence of Ennahdha as the lead political force in Tunisia.
The head of Ennahdha campaigning team on Monday evening said that the party outperformed all other parties and that it had between 20 and 30 per cent of the votes in Tunisia and 50 per cent of the votes by expatriate Tunisian abroad.
“We would like to assure the public opinions, investors, economists, foreign markets and Tunisia’s partners about their commitments with Tunisia,” Abdul Hameed Jelassi said. “The investment conditions in Tunisia will be much better in the future,” he said at a press conference at the party locals.
The official results of the elections are scheduled to be announced on Tuesday afternoon.
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