Tunisian election officials count votes at a polling station Photograph: Louafi Larbi/Reuters
Sean Clarke here, with an update on what we know about how the poll has been conducted so far. As Lizzy reported last night, ISIE, the electoral commission accepted that there had been "soft intimidation" of voters in some areas.
ISIE organised a map of reported irregularities, and encouraged citizens to submit reports by SMS. The results are interesting:
These two screengrabs show, on the left, the number of reports of infractions relating to publicity, chiefly sticking posters up in unauthorised locations. On the right is the number of reports of "verbal or physical violence". (There is a broader "violence" category, but most of its reports relate to "tearing down of posters".)
We are expecting national and international observers to report later today on how they think the polls were conducted.
A lot of the speculation appears to be coming from partial and unconfirmed results being recorded on the website of Tunisian radio Mosaique FM.
Be aware that these figures - as Mosaique make clear - are "approximate" and not the official results, to be announced by ISIE. But they are already sparking interesting debate as they appear to show the Islamist An-Nahda party in poll position in many constituencies.
Among the many supporters of the party, which was banned under Ben Ali and whose leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, spent two decades in exile, the predictions are likely to spark delight.
But on social networks there is alarm among those who criticise the party and are fearful that it could shed its moderate image once in power. One Twitter user, @PaNoAlMi, has posted:
I keenly await the day when I will be able to say with schadenfreude to those who voted An-Nahda: 'You deserve this- we warned you.'
Others are more stoic. Responding to some of the more extreme comments, user @MACTUNISIANO has written:
Not good to wish the death of even your worst enemy. They have their place in a Tunisian democracy: that is DEMOCRACY.
And @Mo7sen2 commented:
'Democracy only works if it is accepted and shared by bad losers': Proverb.
Good morning. It's the morning after an historic night before and Tunis is a city abuzz with rumour and speculation. Here's a brief summary:
? Counting is underway across Tunisia after the first free election in its history. Although workers began manually totting up the votes last night, the electoral commission ISIE said final results were not expected until this afternoon at the earliest and would probably be announced tomorrow. There are two different stages of counting.
? After queues stretched through streets in towns and villages across the country, turn-out is thought to have been high. ISIE said last night that 90% of some 4.1 million registered voters had indeed voted. But, as there are no figures yet for the 3.1 million others who did not register but could still vote, a total is not known.
? Projections and unofficial figures are circulating on the internet, but official results are still a long way off. An-Nahda, the Islamist party tipped to win the biggest share of the vote, said last night it was in the lead in overseas constituencies. Overnight, Tunisian radio reported that preliminary results in two big provincial cities had An-Nahda in the lead, with secularist parties CPR and Ettakatol in second place. None of this could be independently confirmed.
? The first election to have blossomed from the Arab Spring has attracted praise world-wide. David Cameron said the vote was "inspiring" and a "remarkable achievement", while Barack Obama last night issued a statement congratulating the Tunisian people on their "important step forward". The EU and the UN also praised the elections.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/24/tunisian-elections-2011-live
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