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{{Infobox President
{{Infobox President
|name = Zine El Abidine Ben Ali<br />زين العابدين بن علي
|name = Zine El Abidine Ben Ali<br />زين العابدين بن علي
|image = Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.jpg
|image = Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.jpg|width=100000px
|office = [[President of Tunisia]]
|office = [[President of Tunisia]]
|primeminister = [[Hédi Baccouche]]<br />[[Hamed Karoui]]<br />[[Mohamed Ghannouchi]]
|primeminister = [[Hédi Baccouche]]<br />[[Hamed Karoui]]<br />[[Mohamed Ghannouchi]]

Revision as of 20:52, 27 October 2009

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
زين العابدين بن علي
President of Tunisia
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 November 1987
Prime MinisterHédi Baccouche
Hamed Karoui
Mohamed Ghannouchi
Preceded byHabib Bourguiba
Prime Minister of Tunisia
In office
2 October 1987 – 7 November 1987
PresidentHabib Bourguiba
Preceded byRachid Sfar
Succeeded byHédi Baccouche
Personal details
Born (1936-09-03) 3 September 1936 (age 88)
Hammam-Sousse,  Tunisia
Political partyRDC

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Arabic: زين العابدين بن علي Zīna al-‘Ābidīna bin ‘Alī), (born 3 September 1936) has served as the President of Tunisia since 7 November 1987. He took power from President Habib Bourguiba by a bloodless coup, after serving briefly as Prime Minister.

Government appointment

Ben Ali was born in Hammam Sousse. He was appointed to establish and manage the Defense Ministry's Military Security in 1964, which he ran until 1974. He was promoted to director-general of National Security at the Ministry of the Interior in 1977 after serving as military attaché to the Kingdom of Morocco. He returned from four years as Ambassador to Poland to become once again head of National Security at the Ministry of the Interior but this time with Cabinet rank. For his success in dealing with the political opponents and their threat to the regime, he was promoted to Minister of the Interior, and retained this position until he was appointed Prime Minister, though many Tunisians believe that he never completed high school.

Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister by President Habib Bourguiba on 1 October 1987; in this position, he was the President's constitutional successor. Five weeks after becoming head of the government, he had President Bourguiba declared medically unfit for the duties of the office and assumed the presidency on 7 November 1987, in what was a medico-legal coup. The constitutional destitution of President Bourguiba was popular and legitimately based on Article 57, that allowed the procedure.[citation needed] Since then many Tunisians have become disillusioned by the lack of democracy in the country, the growth of the police and security services, and the uneven distribution of wealth.[citation needed]

He then retained his predecessor's pro-western foreign policy and supported the economy which has been growing since the early 1990s. Growth in 2002 slowed to a 15-year low of 1.9% due to drought and lackluster tourism. Better conditions after 2003 have helped push growth to about 5% of GDP. Privatization, increasing foreign investment, improvements in government efficiency and reduction of the trade deficit are challenges for the future.[1]

Work as President

Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (formerly Neo-Destour party) continues to dominate the national politics. In 1999, although two alternative candidates were permitted for the first time to stand in the presidential election, Ben Ali was reelected with 99.66% of the vote. He was again re-elected on 24 October 2004, officially taking 94.48% of the vote, after a controversial constitutional referendum in 2002 which allowed him to seek reelection.

Following calls from his own political party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, for him to run again in the 2009 presidential election, Ben Ali said at a party congress on 30 July 30 2008 that he would stand for re-election as the party's candidate.[2]. Unfortunately, there is little critical reporting (some in French, see Le Monde) and almost nothing in English that challenges Ben Ali's claims of promoting democracy. [1] On October 25, 2009, he was re-elected for a fifth term with an overwhelming 89 percent of the vote.[3]

Freedom of the press is officially guaranteed and condoned. However, human rights organization Reporters Sans Frontieres states that "Tunisians have no access to independent news in the local media and the press, radio, TV and the Internet is under the president’s control. Journalists and media are actively discouraged from being more independent by means of bureaucratic harassment, advertising boycotts and police violence."[4]. Ben Ali has particularly targeted internet activists creating forums for discussion and dissent, the most notable cases of these are Zouhair Yahyaoui and the Zarzis Affair.[5]

Many political prisoners remain in jails or in exile in and out of the country. Many disappearances, deaths and torture cases have been reported by human rights organisations. Many arrests are a result of individuals venturing into the internet to bypass government propaganda and controlled press.[6] Ben Ali introduced a law that exonerates him from future prosecution and thus gave himself an amnesty.

Family

Ben Ali was first married to Naima Kefi, the daughter of General Kefi, Tunisia's first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and had three daughters (Ghazwa, Dorsaf and Cyrine); he divorced her in 1992 and married Leila Trabelsi - a former hairdresser - whom he met when he was President Habib Bourguiba's minister of the Interior. With her, he has two daughters (Nessrine and Halima) and a son (Mohamed Zine El Abidine) who was born in 2004 (source: Encyclopedia of the Orient at [2]).

In its January/February 2008 issue, the Foreign Policy Magazine reported that Tunisia's First Lady has been using the 737 Boeing Business Jet[7] of the government to make "unofficial visits" to European Fashion Capitals, as Milan, Paris and Geneve. The report says the trips are not on the official travel itinerary. Bloggers tracked the official airplane on spotting webpages as Airliners.net. The first lady has been described as a shopaholic.[8][9] The Trabelsi family controls much of the business sector in the country.

Rumors have been circulating that Ben Ali's son-in-law Sakher al-Materi (the husband of Zine and Leila's daughter Nessrine) is being primed to eventually take over the country. As of October 2009, he has used family privileges and connections to create a place for himself in the country's economy, and is making his political debut. [3]

References

  1. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Tunisia
  2. ^ "Tunisian president to seek re-election", Reuters (IOL), July 30, 2008
  3. ^ De Montesquiou, Alfred (2009-10-26). "Tunisian president wins 5th term in landslide". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  4. ^ Reporters sans frontières - Tunisia
  5. ^ http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10915
  6. ^ Tunisia: Free Jailed Website Moderator (Human Rights Watch, 16-3-2006)
  7. ^ Picture of the official plane http://www.airliners.net/photo/Republic-of-Tunisia/Boeing-737-7H3-BBJ/0485035/L/
  8. ^ Foreign Policy Magazine. Jan/Feb 2008. page 104
  9. ^ Story Online http://www.foreignpolicy.com/users/login.php?story_id=4090&URL=http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4090
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Preceded by Prime Minister of Tunisia
1987 		Succeeded by
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