Three days before Tunisians go to the first post-Arab spring elections, nationals living abroad vote on Thursday to turn the page on 23 years of autocratic rule.

Three days before Tunisians go to the first post-Arab spring elections, nationals living abroad vote on Thursday to turn the page on 23 years of autocratic rule.

Nine months after the ouster of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, expat Tunisians will choose 18 of the 217 members of the constituent assembly, voting until Saturday in six "constituencies": two in France, one in Italy, one in Germany, one in North America and one for other Arab nations.

Tunisians living in former colonial ruler France will elect 10 of these 18 seats, in an assembly that will be tasked with drafting a new constitution.
"Operations have started in Paris. There's a lot of people, at least 200 in front of the consulate," said Ali Ben Ameur, head of the IRIE election organising body in northern France, in Paris.

Votes cast abroad will be counted on Saturday and the results announced after voting ends in Tunisia itself on Sunday.
Turnout is the big unknown of the election, the first free vote after two decades of fallen strongman Ben Ali's rule during which the results of the rigged elections were always known well in advance.

Ben Ali last January fled to Saudi Arabia after a month into a leaderless uprising by Tunisians driven to the streets by social injustice, poverty and corruption.

Pollsters expect the Ennahda movement (Renaissance), led by Shiekh Rahsed al-Ghanoushi, to win the most votes. AlGhanoushi was during Ben Ali’s rule in exile in the United Kingdom. After the deposed President fled to Saudi Arabia al-Ghanoushi returned to his country.