It was a blood wrenching warcry.

It was a blood wrenching warcry of a country still trying to move forward as it faced more than a decade of conflict.

In the eastern cities of Benghazi and Derna, people cheered the announcement of the elections, which came two days after the ouster of Islamist government officials and the death of the first civilian, Mohamed Abdul Fattah el-Sisi , president for just over a year. But in the west, many took to social media to lament the failure to choose candidates who could unify a country that has endured two major wars.

The results, which were announced hours after polling stations opened Thursday night, were no surprise to people who had watched the vote on television.

But despite popular outrage that many Tunisians will not be represented in office, the elections should be treated as a landmark. It is unlikely a single-winner system will emerge in a country that was hit especially hard after being caught off guard by the rise of Islamic extremists in neighboring Libya. Instead, there is an open and transparent process of vetting candidates against a range of criteria.