TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia’s Independent High Authority for Elections announced at a press conference Oct. 9 the results of the legislative elections held three days earlier. Ennahda came in first with 52 seats in parliament, followed by the liberal party Qalb Tounes (Heart of Tunis) with 38 seats. The Democratic Current secured 22 seats and the conservative Dignity Coalition got 21 seats.

Many political leaders have voiced concerns about what they called the dilemma of forming a government in light of the leading party’s inability to obtain a majority — 109 seats out of 217 — and form a government by itself. Ennahda is now forced to seek other alliances to come up with 57 more seats.

Speculation over the difficulty of reaching consensus to form a government has increased with the rise of a politically and ideologically incompatible mix of parties and independents, some of whom belong to the conservative Ennahda and the Dignity Coalition, while others are affiliated with modern, liberal parties such as the Heart of Tunis, the Democratic Current and the Free Destourian Party.

Article 89 of the Tunisian Constitution says the president is to ask the party or coalition that won the most seats in parliament to form a government; the party or coalition is given a deadline of one month, extendable once.