Eighty-eight-year-old Tunisian political bigwig Beji Caid Essebsi has won the country’s first free presidential poll since its independence in 1956, 58 years ago.
According to BBC, Essebsi garnered 55.68 per cent of the vote cast in Sunday’s run-off to defeat caretaker president Moncef Marzouki (44.32 per cent), Chafik Sarsar, head of the electoral commission, confirmed.
Speaking after his victory was declared, the octogenarian urged all Tunisians to work together for stability of the country.
Marzouki initially refuted the results, failing to admit defeat on the grounds that Essebsi was a member of the old order ousted in 2011 by the Arab uprising.
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The 67-year-old pointed out that Essebsi served under Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali who fell to the Arab Spring.
Essebsi has been in the country’s political scene since independence, as he was also in the cabinet of Tunisia’s first post-independence leader, Habib Bourguiba.
In Tunisia, groups have been protesting Essebsi’s victory, while policemen have been dispersing them with tear gas.
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Essesbsi was Tunisia’s prime minister from February to December 2011, having previously served as minister of foreign affairs between 1981 and 1986.
He is the founder of the Nidaa Tounes (Call for Tunisia), a political party, which won a majority in the 2014 parliamentary election, and is soon to become the ruling party of the country upon his inauguration.
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