Official election commission results from Sunday's vote were still to come on Tuesday, but exit polls and statistical samples both point towards a win for Nida Tunis (Tunisia Calls), with about 35 percent of the seats in the 217-seat parliament.

That would give the party the right to name a prime minister. Its leader, 87-year-old Tunisian political veteran Beji Caid Essebsi, had vowed to form a coalition with other parties.

"The Tunisian people have reinforced their commitment to democracy with credible and transparent elections that gave Tunisians of all political tendencies a free vote," Annemie Neyts-Uytterbroeck, head of the European Union's observer mission, told reporters on Tuesday.

The election had been held amid tight security aimed to protect against extremist attacks. Sunday marked the country's first parliamentary vote since 2011 when it became the birthplace of the Arab Spring revolution, which has since led to turmoil in neighboring nations. Tunisia has also struggled with security in the revolution's aftermath, though not to the same extent.

Rivals concede defeat

The moderate Islamist Ennahda (Renaissance) party gained 25 percent of the vote, giving them a substantial voice in any new government.

The party, which won polls held in 2011 shortly after the revolution, conceded defeat and congratulated its secular rival, in a stark contrast to the post-election process in neighboring nations.

Ennahda's leader Rashed Ghannouchi told his fellow Tunisians to celebrate "democratic freedom", calling his country "the only tree still standing in a devastated forest," in reference to the crises in other Arab Spring countries.

"The whole Arab wishes they were Tunisian, so enjoy all these freedoms," he said.

se/es (AP, AFP)