Tunisia's new president to be sworn in

Tunis - Newly elected Tunisian President Beji Caid
Essebsi will be sworn in Wednesday at a ceremony
in parliament, which is dominated by his anti-
Islamist Nidaa Tounes party, officials said.
The election of Essebsi, an 88-year-old who served
under previous regimes, is seen as a landmark for
the birthplace of the Arab Spring that toppled
dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali four years ago.
His victory over incumbent Moncef Marzouki
rounded off Tunisia's transition to democracy and
has won praise from Western leaders.
On Monday, the electoral committee confirmed
that Essebsi took 55.68% of the vote in a 21
December run-off against Marzouki.
After Essebsi is sworn in, Marzouki will formally
hand over power to him at the presidential palace
in Carthage, a suburb of Tunis.
Essebsi, an anti-Islamist lawer, has insisted that
Tunisia had definitely turned a page on the past
and would look to the future rather than the past.
But Marzouki, a 69-year-old former rights activists,
said he was creating a new movement to prevent
the North African nation sliding back into
authoritarian rule.
Marzouki was installed as president by the
moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which was in
power after the revolution.
Ennahda came second in the October
parliamentary polls and has not ruled out joining a
governing coalition.
The presidential vote was the first time Tunisians
have freely elected their head of state since
independence in 1956.
AFP

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