Tunisian Law Professor Leading in 1st Round of Presidential Race

TUNIS (Sputnik) - Kais Said, a law professor, is leading the first round of Tunisia's presidential election with 19 per cent of the vote after 27 per cent of the ballots have been counted, the country's elections commission (ISIE) said Monday.

A second round will be held if no candidate receives at least 50 per cent.

Said is followed by media magnate, Nabil Karoui, who was detained in August on suspicion of tax evasion and money laundering, with 14.9 per cent of the total votes. Abdelfattah Mourou, the co-founder and vice president of the Islamist Ennahdha Party, comes in third with 13.1 per cent.

Defence Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi is in fourth with 9.6 per cent of the vote and is followed by Prime Minister Youssef Chahed with 7.4 per cent.

"We trust the reported figures obtained from our observers throughout the whole republic," ISIE head, Mohamed Marzouk told a press conference, adding that the turnout had reached 51 percent by the end of voting.

The first round of the presidential election in Tunisia took place on Sunday, with over 20 candidates running. The decision to hold the snap presidential election was made after Beji Caid Essebsi, the 92-year-old president who led the country for the past five years, died on July 25.