Tunisia: 92-Year-Old Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi Dies

Beji Caid Essebsi/Wikipedia
Beji Caid Essebsi, President of Tunisia
25 July 2019
allAfrica.com
By Andre van Wyk

Cape Town — Beji Caid Essebsi, the world's oldest sitting president and Tunisia's first freely-elected president, has died aged 92, writes BBC.

According to Reuters, Essebsi was hospitalised in late June, spending a week undergoing treatment for what authorities described as a severe health crisis.

"On Thursday morning, the President of the Republic died at the military hospital in Tunis. The burial ceremony will be announced later," the presidency said in statement. The speaker of parliament will temporarily serve as president, according to the country's constitution.

Essebsi became Tunisia's first democratically elected president after he won the office in 2014, writes Arab News. This came after the country's Arab Spring uprising in 2011 which saw the ousting of former leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. Parliamentary elections are expected to be held on 6 October with a presidential vote to follow on 17 November.

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