Secularist party wins Tunisia elections
Tunis (AsiaNews/Agencies) - For the first time in the modern history of Tunisia, a secular party will form the country's new government.
Tunisia's secularist party Nidaa Tounes won 85 seats in the country's parliament following Sunday's elections, official results show.
The Islamist Ennahda party, which won 69 seats, has already urged Nidaa Tounes to form an inclusive government.
Around five million Tunisians were registered to cast their ballot.
Tunisia's uprising in January 2011 was the first to kick off the Arab Spring, which spread across the entire Middle East in just a few months.
Despite economic difficulties and some violence, Tunisia was the only nation that avoided real political and social chaos, unlike in Egypt and Libya.
When the first free elections were held in November 2011, Ennahda came to power. However, last January, the Islamist party handed power to a transitional government headed by Mehdi Jomaa.
The new Parliament will now have to choose a prime minister who will choose the members of the new democratic government.
In January, under the transitional government, Tunisia adopted a new Constitution.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the charter a model for post-revolution countries in the region.
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