Tunisia has less than two months to organize snap elections following the death of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi at the age of 92.
The veteran politician, the oldest head of state after Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, came to power in 2014, three years after the Arab Spring uprising.
Newspapers yesterday paid tribute to “the father of consensus,” while festivals were canceled and the government declared seven days of mourning.
Essebsi was hospitalized late last month and had returned to intensive care on Thursday. Media said he would be buried today.
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Essebsi as “a courageous leader” and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called him “a courageous actor on the road to democracy.”
Neighbors Morocco and Algeria also paid tribute, with three days of mourning announced in Algiers.
Tunisia’s legislature announced that its speaker, Mohammed Ennaceur, would take the reins as interim president, and within hours he was sworn in as the new leader.
Ennaceur has 90 days to organize a presidential poll, Tunisian Independent High Authority for Elections president Nabil Baffoun said.
The authority later said that the election would “probably” be on Sept. 15.
The birthplace of the Arab Spring, Tunisia is the only nation affected by the uprisings to have pushed through democratic reforms, despite political unrest, a sluggish economy and militant attacks.
Islamic extremists have staged repeated attacks, raising fears for the nation’s fragile democracy and throttling its tourism industry.
A veteran politician, Essebsi had served as an adviser to Habib Bourguiba, the father of Tunisia’s independence from France, holding a number of key jobs under him and former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Essebsi had served as director-general of the national police and interior minister. He later held the defense portfolio before becoming ambassador to France as well as Germany.
Essebsi is the founder and chairman of the secularist Nidaa Tounes (Call of Tunis) party.
Nidaa Tounes won the 2014 election and formed a coalition with the Islamic-inspired Ennahdha, which lasted four years before the parties split.
However, the party has struggled to overcome bitter internal divisions between Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and Essebsi’s son, Hafedh, leading to the premier being sidelined from Nidaa Tounes and forming his own rival party, Tahia Tounes.
“The most important thing during this transition period is continuity,” Nidaa Tounes Legislator Bochra Ben Hmida said. “[Ennaceur] will know how to ensure this continuity and will respect the constitution.”
Essebsi’s death comes amid a debate over who would be able to run in the next presidential elections.
Essebsi neither rejected nor enacted an amended electoral code passed by the legislature last month that would bar the way for several strong candidates, including media magnate Nabil Karoui.
Karoui was charged with money laundering this month after he stated his intention to run for office.
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