Tunisia's main moderate Islamic party Ennahda claimed Monday to have captured about 40 percent of the vote in the country's first free polls, as the cradle of the Arab Spring basked in praise for its democratic revolution.

Official results were not due until Tuesday, but provisional numbers released by some media outlets appeared to confirm Ennahda's prediction that it would be the dominant force in Tunisia's constituent assembly, AFP reported.

The leader of the secular centre-left PDP party, tipped as Ennahda's main challenger before the vote, conceded defeat.

"The trend is clear. The PDP is badly placed. It is the decision of the Tunisian people. I bow before their choice," leader Maya Jribi told AFP at her party's headquarters.

Instead, the leaders of two other leftist parties, Ettakatol and the Congress for the Republic (CPR), said they were fighting it out for second place.

Ettakatol leaders told AFP they expected to get about 15 percent of the vote, as did the CPR.

"Ennahda is certainly the majority, but there are two other democratic entities, Ettakatol and the CPR, who were weak at the start but now find themselves in the position to contribute to political life and usher a rational modernity in this Arab-Muslim country," Ettakatol number two Khalil Zaouia said.

Tunisians turned out en masse Sunday to elect an assembly seen as the custodian of the pro-democracy revolution that toppled longtime dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali nine months ago.

"We are not far from 40 percent. It could be a bit more or a bit less, but we are sure to take 24 (of the 27) voting districts," Samir Dilou, a member of Ennahda's political bureau told AFP, quoting "our sources".

Another executive member said the Ennahda party's own count showed it would have between 60 and 65 seats on the 217-member body.

Data posted on the site of independent radio station Mosaique FM also gave Ennahda the lead based on non-definitive results from a few dozen polling centers.

The polls, for which over 90 percent of some 4.1 million registered voters turned out, won hearty acclaim from world leaders closely scrutinizing developments on the soil of the Arab Spring's trailblazer.

"This landmark election constitutes a key step in the democratic transition of the country and a significant development in the overall democratic transformation in north Africa and the Middle East," said UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

The elections are Tunisia's first since a popular uprising that overthrew its longtime leader and set off similar rebellions across the Arab world. 

The new assembly will appoint interim government and draft a new constitution before parliamentary elections scheduled to take place within 12 months. 

Former president Ben Ali, who ruled for 23 years with an iron fist, fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia on January 14, after a monthlong popular non-violent protests in the quiet Mediterranean country.

 

The successful Tunisian revolution kick-started several mass uprisings across the Arab world, known as the Arab Spring, which toppled many authoritarian rulers.