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Ten months after a fruit vendor set himself on fire in a desperate expression of protest against a brutal regime, voters in Tunisia have returned an initial verdict in the Arab Spring's first election.

The result: a moderate Islamic party appears poised to dominate a new legislative assembly, promising an end to corruption and staggering unemployment.

Symbolically, the Tunisian vote has consequences that echo across the region. Revolutions in Egypt and Libya have left a vacuum of power that has yet to be filled. Unrest in Yemen and Syria continues to simmer.

The new leaders of Tunisia vow to fulfill what for many has proved an elusive goal: a moderate, modern, Muslim country where Islamic principles can co-exist with Western-style democracy.

THE INITIAL RESULTS

Ennahda, Tunisia's moderate Islamic party, garnered at least 30 per cent of the votes cast with party officials reporting that it had won in nearly every voting district. Ettakatol, the secular centre-left party, said it had between 15 and 20 per cent of the vote.

Sunday's election was to choose a 217-seat assembly that will sit for one year to draft a new constitution. It will also appoint an interim president and government to run the country until a new election can be held late next year or early in 2013. This election was designed to force power-sharing through a system of proportional representation to ensure that no single party could claim an overall majority.

Ennahda has said it will form an alliance with centrist elements in the new assembly.

THE TURNOUT

Tunisia's first post-revolution election boasted a massive turnout, with long lines at polling stations across the country. More than 90 per cent of the country's 4.1-million registered voters, out of a 7.5-million-strong electorate, participated, according to officials from the country's election commission. More than 14,000 local and international observers were present at polling stations.

ENNAHDA

Banned for 10 years under Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's former president, Ennahda – the name means "renaissance" in Arabic – resurfaced in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution when Rachid al-Ghanouchi, its main leader, returned to Tunis from exile in London. The party organized quickly, projecting a moderate, Muslim identity.

In a debate with a secular opponent before the election, Mr. al-Ghanouchi dismissed criticism that his party would implement radical laws. "Why are we put in the same place as a model that is far from our thought," he said, "like the Taliban or the Saudi model, while there are other successful Islamic models that are close to us, like the Turkish, the Malaysian and the Indonesian models, models that combine Islam and modernity?"

Ennahda often compares itself with Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development party.

With favourable election results pouring in, Said Ferjani, a member of Ennahda's political bureau, said the party already has a plan on how to govern. "We are not dogmatic," he said, "we are highly pragmatic. It will be a broad national unity government for sure. The new reality is that we have to do what we do for the Tunisian people. We go beyond old lines of argument or disagreement."

ETTAKATOL

The Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties, or Ettakatol, was recognized under Mr. Ben Ali's rule, though it never attained any real power. Its founder and secretary-general is Mustapha Ben Jafar, a radiologist and professor of medicine who was prevented from running for president under the regime.

He briefly served as health minister in the immediate aftermath of the revolution but stepped down in protest after complaining that elements of the old regime were clinging to power. Now, he will likely serve as interim president for a year under an Islamist prime minister.

Ettakatol vied for second place in the Tunisian election against the Progressive Democratic Party, which has the backing of Tunisia's business community. In the end, the PDP failed to project a grassroots sensibility, ceding to Ettakatol.

TUNISIA'S LESSONS

While Tunisia is the first election of the Arab Spring, its results don't necessarily indicate other revolutions in the region will have similar outcomes.

Tunisia is a relatively small country, with an established middle class and social democratic culture. Compared with Egypt and Libya, it is more homogeneous, with less disparity in levels of income and education.

Mr. Ben Ali's regime also had a much narrower support base than that of former president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. Some analysts, such as University of Toronto law professor Mohammad Fadel, argue that since the country lacks power blocs in any significant numbers, Tunisia's elections could prove relatively painless.

"Tunisia did not have very many entrenched interest groups, in part because the regime was so brutal," Dr. Fadel said.

He describe Libya in somewhat similar terms, as a "tabula rasa when it comes to entrenched institutions or sites of resistance."

Egypt's coming election could prove the most difficult because of the reluctance of the military and Egypt's upper classes to cede power.

And although Tunisia's first post-revolution experience with the ballot box went relatively smoothly, Dr. Fadel says: "This is a process that is going to take years. These revolutions are ongoing. Tunisia, as much as any other country, still has a lot of work ahead."

With reports from wire services

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