Take that, ISIS! Women stand guard as Tunisia holds its 'historic' election [photos]

Greg P. | 7:56 PM on October 26, 2014

Good news on today’s elections in Tunisia. From AFP:

Tunisians voted Sunday in an election seen as critical for democracy in the cradle of the Arab Spring, with the main secular party confident of a strong showing as the vote count started.

US President Barack Obama hailed the North African country’s first parliamentary election since its 2011 revolution as “an important milestone in Tunisia’s historic political transition”.

Security forces were heavily deployed to avert extremist attacks on a day when 60 percent of an electorate of five million people voted for a 217-seat parliament under a new constitution drafted in January.

And here are some of the wonderful pictures from this “historic” day:

❤️TUNISIA.

photo: @ReutersAfrica pic.twitter.com/ziCydnbwft

— hend amry (@LibyaLiberty) October 26, 2014

Tight security for 'historic' #Tunisia vote. Turnout had reached 50.84 percent. http://t.co/j0rXDheDrg pic.twitter.com/NCHJlgxb3Q

— Javad Maher (@javmaher9) October 26, 2014

Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began, holds first election under new constitution http://t.co/rEEDXnYWj8 pic.twitter.com/ZOSVkvY7lE

— Venus Wu (@wu_venus) October 26, 2014

Polls open in the country that inspired the Arab Spring. 5.2M people eligible to vote. http://t.co/lgQr7FXLQj pic.twitter.com/7Kpv3kEI7A

— Al Jazeera News (@AJENews) October 26, 2014

Another woman votes for her future in #Tunisia. Watching in Jenduba with @IRIglobal pic.twitter.com/25HMBqbm6d

— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) October 26, 2014

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/526257597612298240

And this is a nice sight: women standing guard as democracy moves forward:

#Tunisia-n women soldiers deployed for the elections. #TnElec (Pic via @khaledcoolone) pic.twitter.com/mcmY2am4Lt

— Nessryne J (@sasoukee) October 26, 2014