Rached Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia's main Islamist Ennahda party, speaks during a meeting to present his party's manisfesto ahead of the parliamentary elections, in Tunis September 23, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
It was perhaps unsurprising that Ennahda spokesperson Zubair Shoudi declared his party was happy with second place in the recent parliamentary election.
The Islamist party won 20 fewer seats in parliament than they secured in the constituent assembly – which drafted the constitution – three years ago: 69 down from 89 out of 217.
Tunisian Islamists claim to be more open to modernisation than the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. They also claim that they are no longer in contact with the group's international body.
Ennahda asserts that they will remain a powerful political player in Tunisia throughout the next five years, the life of the next parliament.
The new parliament is dominated by Nidaa Tounis – a secular party – and Ennahda, alongside three small much smaller parliamentary blocs.
Even though Ennahda was defeated and is less popular than in 2011, what Shoudi said reflects a common view among party leaders.
They were keen to praise the election process and made few complaints about voting irregularities.
Ennahda said they put the good of the country before party success.
Shoudi also mentioned that Ennahda was willing to step down for the sake of national consensus.
Ennahda has a pragmatic perspective on the issue, and has learned from the mistakes of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Therefore, it realises that it came out of this parliamentary election with the least possible damage.
In this context Ennahda is looking forward to two things.
Firstly, presidential elections on 23 November.
It does not have a candidate, so as to avoid the same fate as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. It is keeping its options open on which of the 27 candidates to back.
Secondly, it is eying next year's municipal elections after local authorities were granted broad powers by the constitution.
Either way, Islamists seem determined to participate in politics, and the chances of forming a coalition government with Nidaa is unlikely but are not impossible.
But recent election revealed that secularists and Islamists in Tunisia are polarised and it will be hard for Nidaa Tounis to convince their supporters to ally with Ennahda.
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