Tunis: Tunisia's Communist party is hoping to win 10 per cent of the votes, its secretary general has said.
"We have good chances of winning and we look forward to securing 10 per cent of the votes," Hammad Hemmami said. "We are ready to work with any political party that will work genuinely on fulfilling the objectives of the revolution," he said as he cast his ballot at a voting locale in Tunis.
Tunisians are electing 218 deputies who will draft a new constitution and choose a president and a prime minister who will run the country until all the constitutional institutions are ready. The assembly will be in place for a maximum period of one year.
Hammami said that he did not run for the assembly "because I want to support the party candidates and help boost their chances of winning in this crucial stage of the revolutionary progress," he said.
According to Rashid Gannouchi, Al Nahdha, the Islamist party, is ahead of the other parties "as confirmed by all polls".
"Tunisians are this time aware of how serious the elections are, and the best indication is their readiness to stand in a lineup that is one kilometer long to cast their ballots," he said, quoted by the Tunisian news agency.
The 70-year-leader had himself to stand in a long queue before casting his ballot in an elementary school in Menzah, in the suburbs of the capital, Tunis.
Ahmad Najib Shabbi, the co-founder of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), said that Tunisia on Sunday sent a powerful message to the international community about its new status.
"Tunisians told the world today that their country was getting near the advanced countries with deep-rooted election traditions," he said, the news agency reported.
