Naveena Kottoor reports from Tunis: “There was a great sense of achievement among the voters I spoke to”
Voters in Tunisia are choosing their first freely elected president in a run-off election seen as a landmark in the country’s move to democracy.Beji Caid Essebsi, who won the first round with 39% of the vote, is challenging interim leader Moncef Marzouki.
Mr Essebsi represents the secular-leaning Nidaa Tounes party.Tunisia was the first country to depose its leader in the Arab Spring and inspired other uprisings in the region.
Mr Essebsi, who turned 88 this week, held office under both deposed President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali and Tunisia’s first post-independence leader, Habib Bourguiba. He is popular in the wealthy, coastal regions, and has based his appeal to voters on stability and experience.
His opponent, Moncef Marzouki, is a 67-year-old human rights activists forced into exile by the Ben Ali government.
He has been interim president since 2011 and is more popular in the conservative, poorer south.
After casting his ballot, Mr Marzouki said Tusinians “should be proud” of themselves “because the interim period has come to a peaceful end”.
Read more:Tunisians choose president in run-off elections
Source: BBC News
