TUNIS (Reuters) – Moderate Islamists claimed victory on Monday in Tunisia’s first democratic election, sending a message to other states in the region that long-sidelined Islamists are challenging for power after the “Arab Spring.”

Official results have not been announced, but the Ennahda party said its workers had tallied the results posted at polling stations after Sunday’s vote, the first since the uprisings which began in Tunisia and spread through the region.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Moderate Islamists said on Monday their party appeared to be ahead in Tunisia’s first free election since an uprising earlier this year that set off the Arab Spring revolts, hinting at a shift in a country long known for its secularism.

Most forecasts point to the Ennahda party emerging with the biggest share of the vote, an outcome that worries secularists and could be replicated in other Arab states when they hold their own post-Arab Spring elections.

SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia (Reuters) – In the town that launched the Arab Spring, Tunisians crowded into voting stations to take part in an election that in all likelihood would not be taking place were it not for an act of desperation last year by one of its sons.

Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight last December in an act of protest against the arrogance and corruption of a police state that shut him and most other Tunisians out of political and economic life.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian voters poured into a polling stations to vote on Sunday in their country’s first free election, 10 months after a vegetable seller set fire to himself in an act of protest that started the Arab Spring uprisings.

The leader of an Islamist party predicted to win the biggest share of the vote was heckled outside a polling station by people shouting “terrorist” — highlighting tensions between Islamists and secularists that are also being felt in other countries touched by the Arab Spring.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisians began voting on Sunday in the first election of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, and were expected to hand a share of power to Islamists for the first time.

The election, the first free vote in Tunisia’s history, will set a standard for other Arab countries where uprisings have triggered political change or governments have tried to rush reforms to stave off unrest.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Islamists are expected to do well in Tunisia’s first democratic election on Sunday, 10 months after the ouster of autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in a popular uprising that set off protest movements around the Arab world.

The Ennahda party will almost certainly win a share of power after the vote, which will set a democratic standard for other Arab countries where uprisings have triggered political change or governments have tried to rush reforms to stave off unrest.

TUNIS (Reuters) – The main contenders in Tunisia’s first free election after the fall of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali held final campaign rallies on Friday, with both Islamists and their secular opponents claiming they would protect women and represent modernity.

Tunisians will vote to create a constituent assembly charged with writing a new constitution and forming a new interim government before parliamentary and presidential elections expected next year.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisians should vote without fear of rigging or any violence in the first free election after an uprising earlier this year, the prime minister said on Thursday.

The constituent assembly will write a new constitution before new parliamentary and parliamentary elections, and is also expected to form a new interim government in Tunisia. It follows an uprising that ousted ruler of 23 years Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this year.

DUBAI (Reuters) – In a defiant show of unity, Bahrain opposition parties have jointly denounced the Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab island as a police state and demanded a transition to a constitutional monarchy.

Five groups, including the main Shi’ite party Wefaq and the secular Waad party, vowed to keep up a pro-democracy campaign with peaceful rallies and marches — despite a Saudi-backed government crackdown that crushed similar protests in March.