Essebsi wins

The 88-year-old Beji Caid Essebsi has won the Tunisian presidential election, according to official preliminary results released by Tunisia's electoral commission.

Essebsi won 55.68 percent of the votes in Sunday's second-round runoff vote, compared to 44.32 percent for his rival Moncef Marzouki.

Marzouki, the outgoing president, has congratulated Essebsi, according to Marzouki's campaign manager.

"Dr Moncef Marzouki has congratulated Mr Beji Caid Essebsi for his victory in the presidential election," Adnene Mancer wrote on his official Facebook page.

However, in El Hamma, a town in the south of Tunisia, some 300-400 protesters clashed with police as they protested at the result.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, who had "set fire to tyres and tried to attack a police station by throwing stones", according to interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui. 

Essebsi has yet to comment following the electoral commission's announcement.

The election sees Tunisia freely elected a president for the first time since independence from France in 1956.

The turnout reached 60.1 percent, and the results are expected to indicate a clear north-south divide, with Essebsi's support concentrated in the north, and Marzouki's in the south. 

The vote marks the culmination of a four-year transition to democracy that has brought the North African country its share of turbulence. 

Tunisia needs all its children. We must work hand in hand. - Beji Caid Essebsi

After polls closed at 1700 GMT, Essebsi's campaign manager Mohsen Marzouk said early indicators signalled an Essebsi victory, without elaborating.

Essebsi appeared before 2,000 supporters who gathered outside his campaign headquarters shouting "Long live Tunisia!" and thanked the voters. "Tunisia needs all its children. We must work hand in hand," he said as supporters cheered.

Marzouki's campaign chief Adnene Moncer said the result was too close to call, and accused the Essebsi camp of election "violations".

Heightened security

People voted under heightened security measures, however, after a video threat earlier in the week and continuing tensions in neighbouring Libya.

Hours before voting began, troops guarding ballot papers in the central region of Kairouan were attacked. They killed one gunman and captured three, said the ministry of defence.

Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa condemned the attack as a "desperate attempt" to disrupt democracy in the country that triggered the Arab Spring.

Security was tightened everywhere and preparations been in made for days Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou told al-Araby al-Jadeed earlier.

Ben Jeddou said the border with Libya had been secured and members "providing logistical support for terror groups" were arrested in the cities of al-Qasrayn, al-Kaf, Jendouba and Sidi Bouzid.

"About 28,000 recruits have been assigned to secure the elections process directly, while 8,000 others were assigned for rapid intervention", said Lieutenant Colonel Belhassan al-Waslati, official spokesman for the Ministry of Defence.

The candidates

See the full graphic here

The incumbent Marzouki lost the first round on 23 November by six percent, garnering 33 percent to Essebsi’s 39. That vote saw a 64 percent turnout, but since there was no outright majority, Sunday’s run-off became necessary.

Essebsi labours under the perception that his candidacy represents a return of the “old guard”. He served as minister of the interior, defence and foreign affairs under Tunisia’s first president, Habib Bourguiba. He was also parliamentary speaker under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted in early 2011 in Tunisia’s revolution, which sparked similar uprisings in several other countries in the region.

It is his close association with the former regime that has led critics to accuse him of trying to restore to power former members of that regime. His secular Nidaa Tounes Party is an alliance of former members of Ben Ali’s regime and non-aligned liberals.

Foremost among Essebsi’s critics has been Marzouki, who in addition to accusing his opponent of trying to restore the old guard, also suggested Essebsi was trying to “win through fraud”, earning a sharp rebuke from the Tunisian electoral commission.

For his part, Essebsi, who refused to debate Marzouki on TV, has accused the incumbent of being an “extremist” and a front for Islamist parties.

During his time in charge, Marzouki, a veteran human rights activist who was exiled by Ben Ali’s regime, forged a tripartite alliance with Ennahdha, Tunisia’s moderate Islamist party, and two centre-left parties.

Ennahdha, however, was pushed into second place in October’s parliamentary elections, which were won by Nidaa Tounes. Though still influential, the party also refused to throw its weight officially behind Marzouki before yesterday's vote.