Tunisians voted Sunday in an election seen as pivotal to establishing democracy in the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings, with security forces deployed heavily to avert extremist attacks.

Three hours into the vote, which got underway at 7:00 am (0600 GMT), turnout had reached 25 percent, said Chafik Sarsar, head of the ISIE body organising the election.

Tunisia has been hailed as a beacon of hope compared with other chaos-hit countries like Libya and Egypt where regimes were also toppled.

But transition in the North African country has been tested at times by militant attacks and social unrest, with the final turnout expected to indicate the level of public disaffection.

Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa hailed Sunday’s vote as “historic”.