European Union Observers Hail Tunisia Presidential Poll

Tunis : Tunisia's first Presidential election since a 2011 revolution was credible and transparent, the Head of the EU Observer Mission said on Tuesday.

"On Sunday, the Tunisian people renewed their commitment to democracy ... in pluralist and transparent elections," Annemie Neyts-Uytterbroeck said.

"The exercise of freedom of expression and assembly was guaranteed," she said, describing most of the observed irregularities as "minor".

The election was a landmark for the North African nation, whose overthrow of long-time strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali set off a chain of popular uprisings that saw several Arab dictators toppled around the region.

Official results from the poll are expected to be released later Tuesday.

Veteran anti-Islamist politician Beji Caid Essebsi, whose party placed first in a parliamentary election last month, looks set to fall short of the 50 percent threshold required to win outright, his campaign team has conceded.

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He is poised to face off against incumbent Moncef Marzouki, a secular politician who has made common cause with the Islamists against what he says is an attempt at a comeback by former loyalists of the former autocratic regime.