Mr Jbeli promised to stand by the country's liberal laws on tourists, women's clothing and alcohol, following the moderate line set out by the party chairman, Rached Ghannouchi, who in common with leaders of Islamist parties elsewhere in the region will take a behind-the-scenes role.
In contrast to the vision of a Sharia state set out at the weekend by the interim president of neighbouring Libya, Mr Jbeli said he would not try to introduce Islamist concepts like an interest-free banking system.
And he promised that an Ennahda-led government would not damage the economy by restricting freedoms necessary for the important tourism industry.
"The tourism sector is among the achievements which we cannot touch," he said in a statement carried by state media. "Is it logical to handicap a strategic sector like tourism by forbidding wine or wearing bathing costumes? These are personal liberties for Tunisians and foreigners as well.
"We will not make Islamic banks universal. We are not going to abolish the banking system that exists."
The agenda set in place in Tunisia will be monitored closely across the region by Islamists and non-Islamists alike. Ennahda is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, the dominant force in political Islamism in the Arab world, which often pursues a far more radical agenda than that espoused by Ennahda.
Islamist figures are also coming to the fore in Libya, where an announcement on Sunday by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the interim president, that the authorities would make polygamy easier and permit only Islamic banking – which does not allow the charging of interest – sent shock-waves through secular elements.
Ennahda activists claim that the party's success will encourage Islamist groups facing elections, such as in Egypt, to adopt a similarly moderate agenda. "I think we are going to show the world not only how to be truly democratic, but to excel at being democrats," Said Ferjani, a senior official, told The Daily Telegraph.
"We are looking for a sensible, constructive relationship with the United States and Europe, with Latin America, Asia and Russia, but above all with Africa and the Muslim world." But Emile Hokayem, who is monitoring the election for the International Institute of Strategic Studies in Bahrain, said Ennahda's victory could yet be a double-edged sword.
"It could send a message that the more moderate an Islamist group the more appealing it is," he said. "But it could also suggest to people in other countries that in the most secular state undergoing a transition to democracy in the Arab world the Islamists still win.
"It suggests that the Islamists in Egypt and other places can actually do very well."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...eral-laws.html