Beji Caid Essebsi elected as President of Tunisia
Beji Caid Essebsi had been elected as President of Tunisia. Thus he is the first democratically elected President in the country after the Arab Spring.
In the recent run-off elections he got 56 percent votes and defeated the outgoing President Moncief Marzouki.
About Beji Caid Essebsi
- He is considered as secular and anti-Islamist leader. By profession he is lawyer and studied law in Paris.
- He was Interior minister under Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia’s first president after independence.
- He had was speaker of parliament under ousted President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali.
- Was appointed as interim prime minister in 2011 after the uprising.
- In 2014, he founded secular-leaning Nidaa Tounes party.
- He has wide support base from Tunisian General Labour Union and some business groups.
By electing Beji Caid Essebsi, it may be consider as Tunisia’s vital step towards democracy.
Background
Tunisia was birth place of Arab Spring which later spread to many parts of the Arab world in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen.
In every country except Tunisia the revolution had turned violent. In case of Syria it turned into civil war.
Month: Current Affairs - December, 2014