<span>Tunisia was </span><span>in limbo yesterday after exit polls showed no clear majority in Sunday's legislative elections, with the two front runners ruling out a</span><span> coalition.</span> <span>Unofficial polls </span><span>put Ennahda a few points clear of second-placed populists Qalb Tounes (Heart of Tunisia), but with an absolute majority seeming to be beyond the reach of any party, the path ahead looks</span><span> difficult.</span> Official results for the election are expected on Wednesday although both parties have already declared victory, causing some confusion. <span>"We're confident the polls are correct," </span><span>Ennahda's Khalil Amiri</span><span> said at party headquarters in Tunis yesterday</span><span>. </span> <span>He said the party had forged a number of alliances they could call upon to begin assembling a majority.</span> <span>The party’s supporters celebrated into the evening on Sunday, sounding car horns and cheering.</span> <span>However, if the exit polls are correct, Ennahda will </span><span>win only 40 seats – a long way off the 109 required to form a government. This means there will </span><span>probably be weeks of negotiations and political horse trading. </span> <span>If </span><span>parties are unable to form a government within two months, it will fall to the president to do so and if that proves impossible, the </span><span>electorate will be forced to return to the polls.</span> <span>"The political landscape is incredibly fragmented, with it seeming that no party will gain over 20 per cent of the vote," said </span><span>Sharan Grewal, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank specialising in Tunisian affairs.</span> <span>"It will take at least four parties to form a government, and even more if Qalb Tounes is not included. Get ready for several weeks if not </span><span>a couple of months of negotiations."</span> <span>It was expected that support for Qalb Tounes would have been dented by recent allegations of a </span><span>$1 million contract between the party's leader</span><span> – imprisoned TV boss Nabil Karoui</span><span> – and </span><span>lobbyists Dickens and Madson. However, Mr Karoui has campaigned using populist promises that his party will make Tunisia's overlooked poor a priority, and appears to have retained his popularity.</span> <span>Mr Karoui has </span><span>been in police detention since August in a case brought three years ago by a transparency watchdog. He denies any wrongdoing.</span> <span>"Mr Karoui won 15.6 per cent of the vote in the presidential election</span><span>, and </span><span>Qalb Tounes won 15.6 per cent in the parliamentary elections," </span><span>Mr Grewal said, suggesting they had sustained support.</span> <span>"[Mr Karoui's] supporters had already dismissed charges of money laundering and tax evasion</span><span>; it's no surprise they also dismissed the lobbying contract," he said. These are the third elections to be held in </span><span>the North African country since the revolution in </span><span>2011 </span><span>and the second to be staged under Tunisia's 2014 constitution.</span> <span>Although the country is suffering from a stuttering economy and ingrained unemployment, democratic progress has been marked.</span> <span>Under the new constitution, the country's parliament has been elevated from acting as the rubber stamp to past autocracies to a body carrying real independence and heft. But despite this, infighting and parliamentary fractiousness have stalled progress and fuelled voter disenchantment </span><span>with those elected to run the country.</span> <span>Irrespective of the make-up of the new government, or the time taken until its formation, the economic and social challenges that have bedevilled past administrations remain unchanged.</span>