Tunisia's Future 'With US': Presidential Hopeful Essebsi

Presidential candidate Beji Caid Essebsi on Wednesday said that next week's run-off vote would be a choice between "past and future."



"Sunday's vote will be a choice between going back to the disorderly past or moving on to the future," Essebsi said while campaigning in Tunisia's northern El Kef city.



"In this critical phase that Tunisia is going through, the future is with us," he added.



Essebsi, head of the Nidaa Tounes party, clinched 39.4 percent of the vote in late November's first-round poll.



He will face off against Interim President Moncef Marzouki, who came in second in the first round with 33.4 percent of the vote.



The runoff election will be held on December 21 inside Tunisia and on December 19, 20 and 21 at voting stations abroad, according to Tunisia's electoral commission.



Preliminary results will be announced at midnight local time (22: 00 GMT) on the same day as the polling.



Nidaa Tounes, which includes several former members of ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's regime, won the most seats by a single party in October parliamentary polls.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Tunis