Veteran Tunisian politician Beji Caid Essebsi came out ahead of rival, Moncef Marzouki in the first round of Tunisia’s November presidential election, but failed to achieve an outright victory.

Essebsi, the leader of Tunisia’s secular Nidaa Tunis party, won 39 per cent of the vote, while Marzouki, the interim president, got 33 per cent.

More than 50 per cent was needed to achieve an outright win.

The vote was the country’s first presidential election since the 2011 uprising.

Nidaa Tuinis, prevailed in the parliamentary elections that took place in October, taking 85 seats in the 217-seat assembly.

As well as serving under the Ben Ali regime, 87-year-old Essebsi also held senior ministerial positions under Tunisia’s founding president Habib Bourguiba.