Candidates split but Tunisian voters united by hope
The long-awaited election represents the final phase in a torturous transition to democracy since Tunisians overthrew Ben Ali in 2011
Tunisia's first free presidential election is boiling down to two candidates with divergent views of the revolution that transformed the former dictatorship.
As Tunisians went to the polls yesterday to vote for their first directly elected president since the 2011 revolution that ended the regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the clear front runner is veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi, a former Ben Ali official.
Among two dozen other candidates, the one most likely to make it into a run-off with Essebsi is incumbent interim president Moncef Marzouki, a veteran rights activist who was once imprisoned by the old regime and is a symbol of the revolution.
More than three years after the end of Ben Ali's one-party rule, Tunisia has become a model of transition for the region by adopting a new constitution and avoiding the turmoil facing its neighbours.
The vote follows the general election in October when the main secular Nidaa Tounes party won the most seats in parliament, beating the Islamist party Ennahda that had won the first free poll in 2011.
Compromise between secular and Islamist rivals has been a feature of Tunisia's political success - but the ascent of former regime officials is worrying critics who fear their return will be a setback for the 2011 revolution.
Nidaa Tounes' 87-year-old leader Essebsi has about 32 per cent support in the most recent polls.
"The old regime wants to impose itself on these elections - especially after they won the most seats in the parliament," bank employee Mohammed Souilmi said. "I will be voting to put a stop to that."
Essebsi and other former Ben Ali-era officials say they were not involved in the corruption and abuse of the former regime, instead presenting themselves as technocrats with skills the country now needs in government.
Supporters of Essebsi claim those backing Marzouki have resorted to attacks and thuggery.
One candidate, former central bank governor Mustapha Kamel Nabli, quit the race and denounced a "climate of violence and terror" after attacks on his campaign bus which he linked to Marzouki supporters.
Meanwhile, Marzouki - a secularist who also enjoys support from Islamists - has been warning against the return of the former regime in the form of Essebsi, who served in the government of Ben Ali and Tunisia's other post-independence president, Habib Bourguiba.
Marzouki calls former officials of the dictatorship "taghout", or oppressors.
He has been playing on fears an Essebsi victory could augur a return of the one-party state, since his party took the largest number of seats - nearly 38 per cent - in parliament after the October election.
Most analysts predict neither Essebsi nor Marzouki will win enough votes to avoid a second round of voting in December.
A new Nidaa Tounes-led government will be formed after the presidential ballot.
However the narrow lead it holds over Ennahda in parliament will result in tough post-election negotiations over the new administration.
Ennahda has not put forward a candidate or backed anyone, so its supporters' choice will only emerge in the vote.
The new government is facing a difficult agenda of politically sensitive economic reforms to boost growth and create jobs as well as tackling the Islamist militant threat that emerged after the 2011 revolt.
A possible dark horse for the run-off is Hamma Hammami, the leader of the left-wing Popular Front coalition.
The movement is popular in the poorer south and is one of the few addressing the plight of Tunisia's poor, who have been battered by soaring inflation of about 6 per cent.
"If the next government does not in the first few weeks take urgent measures to address this problem there risks being a social explosion in the country," Hammami said recently.
