President of Tunisia

President of the Tunisian Republic Président de la République tunisienne
Standard of the President of Tunisia
Incumbent Moncef Marzouki since 13 December 2011
Style	Son Excellence
Residence	Palace of the Republic, Carthage
Term length	Five years, renewable indefinitely
Inaugural holder	Habib Bourguiba
Formation	1959
Website	www.carthage.tn

Tunisia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Tunisia

Constitution Constitution Constituent Assembly Executive President (List) Moncef Marzouki Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali Cabinet Legislature Constituent Assembly Parliament Chamber of Councillors Chamber of Deputies Judiciary Court of Cassation Divisions Governorates Delegations Elections Elections: 2009, 2011 Political parties Foreign relations Foreign relations

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The President of Tunisia, formally known as the President of the Tunisian Republic (Arabic: رئيس الجمهورية التونسية‎, French: Président de la République tunisienne) is the head of state of Tunisia. Tunisia is a presidential republic in which the president is the head of the executive branch of government with the assistance of the Prime Minister of Tunisia, formally the head of government. Under Article 44 of the Constitution of Tunisia, the president is also the commander-in-chief of the Tunisian Armed Forces.

History

According to the constitution, the president is elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years. Currently, the president may be re-elected for an unlimited number of terms in office. This in contrast to the term limit of three terms that in place prior to June 2002, excluding the life presidency that existed between 1975 and 1982.

For most of its history as an independent state, Tunisia has lacked political freedom and has seen the violation of human rights. Because of this, presidencial elections in Tunisia, such as that of 2009, have lacked international credibility, with elections dominated by the ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally and its previous incarnations as the Neo Destour party and the Socialist Destourian Party.

Since the promulgation of a republican constitution in June 1959, three years after gaining independence from France, Tunisia has had just two elected presidents. The first president was Habib Bourguiba, who served as president from 1959 after effectively serving as the country's leader from 1956. He was removed from office in a coup d'état in 1987, during which he was declared medically unfit to perform his duties. His successor was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who served as president from 1987 until 2011, when he was forced from office during an uprising against his rule.

The 2011 presidential transition

Following Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's departure in January 2011, Mohamed Ghannouchi and Fouad Mebazaa served terms as acting president. On December 12, 2011, Moncef Marzouki was elected by the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia as the interim president of Tunisia.

Latest election

Main article: Tunisian general election, 2009

 Summary of the 25 October 2009 Tunisian presidential election results

Candidates		Parties	Votes	%
	Zine El Abidine Ben Ali	Constitutional Democratic Rally	4,238,711	89.62
	Mohamed Bouchiha	Party of People's Unity	236,955	5.01
	Ahmed Inoubli	Unionist Democratic Union	179,726	3.80
	Ahmed Ibrahim	Ettajdid Movement	74,257	1.57
Valid votes			4,729,649	99.84
Blank or invalid votes			7,718	0.16
Total			4,737,367	100.00
Voter turnout			89.45
Electorate			5,296,008
Source: POGAR, (French) Business News

See also

• List of Presidents of Tunisia
• Prime Minister of Tunisia