As the Islamist Ennahda party victory celebrations were under way, Ennahda offices in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Tunisian revolution, were targeted by youths upset after election authorities disqualified candidates belonging to a rival party.
Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi, speaking at party headquarters, called for calm as the interior ministry announced that a curfew would be imposed from 7 p.m. yesterday to 5 a.m. today in the central Tunisian town.
Several public buildings were vandalised overnight but calm had returned by the early morning hours, an AFP correspondent said.
Late-night results showed Ennahda, banned under dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, took 90 of the 217 assembly seats, or 41 per cent.
Some have voiced concern that the Islamist party would seek to curb women’s rights in an Arab country known for a progressive approach on gender equality.
Mr Ghannouchi however reaffirmed his party’s “commitment to the women of Tunisia, to strengthen their role in political decision-making, in order to avoid any going back on their social gains.”
The historic polls nine months after Ben Ali’s ouster saw the Congress for the Republic (CPR) and Ettakatol emerge as the biggest parties on the splintered left, with 30 and 21 seats respectively. Both have said they were in coalition talks with Ennahda.
Fourth place, with 19 seats, went to the Petition for Justice and Development, a grouping of independents led by Hechmi Haamdi, a rich London-based businessman said to have close ties to Ben Ali, despite the invalidation of six of the party’s candidates’ lists.
The CPR and Ettakatol, while secular in their constitutions, have insisted on Tunisia’s Muslim identity and did not run anti-Ennahda campaigns like some of the other parties on the left, the daily La Presse commented. “The Ennahda/CPR/Ettakatol alliance crystallises,” La Quotidien said on its front page.
Analysts have said that Ennahda, even in a majority alliance, would be unable to “dictate” any programme to the assembly, being obliged to appease coalition partners, a moderate-minded society, and the international community on whose investment and tourism the country relies heavily.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton yesterday congratulated Ennahda for its victory while commending all parties who contested in the vote.
Mr Ghannouchi said Wednesday that his party intended to form a new coalition government within a month.
The electoral system was designed to include as many parties as possible in drafting the new constitution, expected to take a year, ahead of fresh national polls.