(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Tunisia's Islamic Ennahda Party has started coalition talks with major parties as it takes lead in the early results of the country's historic elections.
Leftist parties, including Ettakatol, say they have entered talks with the once-banned Ennahda Party for the formation of an interim coalition government in Tunisia.
The Tunisian electoral commission announced on Tuesday that the Ennahda Party won 18 out of 44 domestic seats so far in a 217-member Constituent Assembly.
Despite winning 40 percent of the seats in the assembly, results so far indicate that Ennahda Party failed to win outright majority, meaning a coalition must be formed, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
"We will not exclude any party, independent personality or social movement,'' said Abdel Hamid Jelassi, Ennahda's campaign manager.
“We were once the victims of a politics of exclusion and our goal is to create a government of national unity,'' he added.
Another popular party, the Congress for the Republic, is a distant second with just 10 seats.
On Sunday, Tunisians voted for a 217-member assembly from among more than 11,000 candidates.
The Sunday election was the first in Tunisia since the ouster of ousted dictator Zine El Abidin Ben Ali in January.
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Leftist parties, including Ettakatol, say they have entered talks with the once-banned Ennahda Party for the formation of an interim coalition government in Tunisia.
The Tunisian electoral commission announced on Tuesday that the Ennahda Party won 18 out of 44 domestic seats so far in a 217-member Constituent Assembly.
Despite winning 40 percent of the seats in the assembly, results so far indicate that Ennahda Party failed to win outright majority, meaning a coalition must be formed, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
"We will not exclude any party, independent personality or social movement,'' said Abdel Hamid Jelassi, Ennahda's campaign manager.
“We were once the victims of a politics of exclusion and our goal is to create a government of national unity,'' he added.
Another popular party, the Congress for the Republic, is a distant second with just 10 seats.
On Sunday, Tunisians voted for a 217-member assembly from among more than 11,000 candidates.
The Sunday election was the first in Tunisia since the ouster of ousted dictator Zine El Abidin Ben Ali in January.
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