Tunisia: EU lauds Islamist party for victory
Photo/AFP/FILE
A Tunisian woman speaks on the phone as she passes by a wall covered with posters of candidates as a test vote took place at a polling station in Tunis on October 16.
BRUSSELS, Friday
The European Union on Friday congratulated the Islamist Ennahda party for its victory in Tunisia's first free elections and promised to help the country build a democracy.
"We commend the candidates and parties that took part in the democratic process," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele said in a joint statement.
"We also congratulate the Ennahda party which obtained the highest percentage of votes," they said.
"The EU looks forward to working closely with the new Constituent Assembly and the Tunisian authorities and institutions in responding to the Tunisian people's demands for democracy, freedom, social justice and dignity."
Nine months after the ouster of dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, the once banned Ennahda party took 90 of 217 seats, 41.47 percent, in the new assembly that will rewrite the constitution and appoint a president and caretaker government.
The announcement however triggered violent protests in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of Tunisia's January revolution, with large crowds marching on the party's headquarters.
"We regret the violent clashes that occurred after the announcement of the preliminary results of the elections and urge calm and restraint," Ashton and Fuele said.
The EU called on the constituent assembly to "work in a spirit of consensus in order to build a new democratic state."
