Exit polls from today’s nationwide parliamentary elections suggest that the pro-Islamic Ennahda came in first, followed by the newly established Qalb Tounes, or Heart of Tunisia, led by jailed tycoon Nabil Karaoui, who will be in the Oct. 13 presidential runoff. The polling outfit Sigma Conseil said Ennahda had received 17.5% and Qalb Tounes 15.6%. Emhrod, another polling company, also showed Rachid Ghannouchi’s Ennahda in the lead with 18.3% and Qalb Tounes with 16.3%. 

Ghannouchi, who ran for the first time since Tunisia’s 2011 Jasmine Revolution, won a seat. This might allow him to become parliament speaker, a position he is thought to be coveting after remaining out of government all these years.

Why it matters: It appears that no one party will have won the requisite 109 seats in the 217-seat legislature to govern alone, meaning the country will once again be ruled by a coalition. A key question is whether bitter rivals Ennahda and Qalb Tounes could come together to share power. Qalb Tounes has sought to portray Ennahda as Islamist radicals while Ennahda has played up Karaoui’s imprisonment on tax evasion and money-laundering charges. Even together, the two leading parties would likely need the backing of at least two smaller parties to form a coalition. 

Seifeddine Makhlouf, a pro-Islamic lawyer who has defended militants in court, saw his Karama party pull in fourth, according to Sigma Conseil.