TUNIS
Polling stations across Tunisia have closed their doors, bringing to an end voting in the country's presidential elections, the first since 2011.
While election commission officials closed the doors of the polling stations, some voters already inside some polling stations would be allowed to cast their votes.
Polling stations opened for around 5.2 million eligible voters from 07:00 GMT.
Until 15:30 GMT, nearly 53.7 percent of the voters had cast their ballots to select a new president, according to Chafiq Sarsar, the head of Tunisia's election commission.
He told a press conference that 27 percent of registered voters outside Tunisia had also voted during the same period.
A total of 27 candidates, including a woman, are vying to win Tunisia's top post, which was kept for 24 years by Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, before a popular uprising ended his regime in 2011.
Some election violations were documented throughout the day, but the election commission said these violations had not affected the elections themselves.
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