Polls opened Sunday in Tunisia's first presidential election since the 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring, a ballot set to round off an often fraught transition to democracy.
Among the 27 candidates, the favourite is former premier Beji Caid Essebsi, an 87-year-old veteran whose anti-Islamist Nidaa Tounes party won parliamentary elections last month.
Polling hours were halved in some 50 localities close to the Algerian border, where armed groups are active. Everywhere else, polls are due to close at 1700 GMT.