List of presidents of Tunisia

The President of Tunisia is the head of state of Tunisia, directly elected to a five-year term by the people. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the Tunisian government along with the Prime Minister and is the commander-in-chief of the Tunisian Armed Forces.

Since the office was established in 1957, 7 men have served as president. The 7th and current president is Kais Saied since 23 October 2019. There are currently three living former presidents. The most recent former president to die was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, on 19 September 2019.

The presidency of Mohamed Ennaceur, who assumed the office as acting president following the death of incumbent president Beji Caid Essebsi, was the shortest in Tunisian history (90 days). Habib Bourguiba, the inaugural holder, served the longest, over thirty years (1957–87), before he was removed from office by his prime minister Ben Ali, on 7 November 1987. Since the ratification of the Tunisian Constitution in 2014, no person may be elected president more than twice.

Of those who have served as the nation's president, only one died in office of natural causes (Beji Caid Essebsi), two were removed from office (Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali) and two assumed the office as acting presidents (Fouad Mebazaa and Mohamed Ennaceur).

Background

Tunisia has had seven presidents since the proclamation of the republic on 25 July 1957:

  • Habib Bourguiba was appointed president by the parliament on 25 July 1957, until the election of a permanent president. After the Constitution was enacted on 1 June 1959, a presidential election was held on 8 November 1959. Being the only one running for office, he gained 91% of the votes to serve a five-year term. He was elected unopposed three more times. Shortly after winning his fourth full term, he was proclaimed President for Life. He remained in office until being deposed in the coup d'état of 7 November 1987, organized by his prime minister, Ben Ali.
  • Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was prime minister and interior minister under Bourguiba. Ben Ali had Bourguiba declared medically unfit to serve 7 November 1987. Per the constitution, he became acting president pending new elections. Ben Ali was elected unopposed for a full five-year term on 2 April 1989, and was reelected three more times (the first time unopposed). On 14 January 2011, his regime fell in the Tunisian Revolution that started on 17 December 2010. Mohamed Ghannouchi, his prime minister, claimed the presidency, serving as acting president.
  • Fouad Mebazaa was designated by the Constitutional Council to serve as acting president on 15 January 2011. Under Article 57 of the constitution, an election should have taken place between 45 and 60 days following Mebazaa's appointment. But on 3 March 2011, he announced the repeal of the 1959 constitution and the election of a constituent assembly which had to draft a new one. Therefore, he remained acting president pending new elections.
  • Moncef Marzouki was elected president by the Tunisian Constituent Assembly on 12 December 2011. The next day, he was inaugurated, making him the first president not to be member of the ruling party. During the 2014 presidential election, he was defeated by former prime minister Caid Essebsi and left office on 31 December 2014.
  • Beji Caid Essebsi became the first president to be elected by universal suffrage after the revolution, on 21 December 2014. On 31 December 2014, he took office as the fifth president of Tunisia, and the first to be freely elected. He died on 25 July 2019, and was succeeded by Mohamed Ennaceur as acting president.
  • Mohamed Ennaceur became acting president in accordance with Articles 84 and 85 of the constitution on 25 July 2019, following the death in office of President Essebsi. Per the constitution, Ennaceur was to serve as acting president for no more than 90 days, during which an early presidential election was to be held. An election had already been scheduled for November 2019, but was brought forward to September to ensure that a new president would be sworn in before the 90-day limit.
  • Kais Saied was elected in September 2019. He took office on 23 October as the second president (Marzouki being the first) who was not an heir to Bourguiba's legacy.

Presidents

  Neo Destour/SDP/DCR (2)   Congress for the Republic (1)   Nidaa Tounes (1)

No. Portrait President Time in office Party Term
1 Habib Bourguiba
3 August 1903 – 6 April 2000
(aged 96)


President of the Republic
25 July 1957

7 November 1987
Neo-Destour I[lower-alpha 1] 25 July 1957 – 8 November 1959
1
(1959)
8 November 1959 – 8 November 1964
SDP 2
(1964)
8 November 1964 – 2 November 1969
3
(1969)
2 November 1969 – 3 November 1974
4
(1974)[lower-alpha 2]
3 November 1974 – 7 November 1987
2 Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019 (aged 83)

President of the Republic
7 November 1987

14 January 2011
SDP
(1986)[lower-alpha 3]
7 November 1987 – 2 April 1989
DCR 1
(1989)
2 April 1989 – 20 March 1994
2
(1994)
20 March 1994 – 24 October 1999
3
(1999)
24 October 1999 – 24 October 2004
4
(2004)
24 October 2004 – 12 November 2009
5
(2009)[lower-alpha 4]
12 November 2009[1] – 14 January 2011
3 Fouad Mebazaa
Born: (1933-06-15) 15 June 1933

Acting president of the Republic
15 January 2011

13 December 2011
DCR[lower-alpha 5] I[lower-alpha 6] 15 January 2011 – 13 December 2011
Non-partisan
4 Moncef Marzouki
Born: (1945-07-07) 7 July 1945

President of the Republic
13 December 2011

31 December 2014
Congress for the Republic 1
(2011)[lower-alpha 7]
13 December 2011 – 31 December 2014
5 Beji Caid Essebsi
29 November 1926 – 25 July 2019
(aged 92)


President of the Republic
31 December 2014

25 July 2019
(Died in office; term would have expired on 31 December 2019)
Nidaa Tounes 1
(2014)
31 December 2014 – 25 July 2019
6 Mohamed Ennaceur
Born: (1934-03-21) 21 March 1934

Acting president of the Republic
25 July 2019

23 October 2019
Nidaa Tounes I[lower-alpha 8] 25 July 2019 – 23 October 2019
7[lower-alpha 9] Kais Saied
Born: (1958-02-22) 22 February 1958

President of the Republic
23 October 2019

Incumbent
Non-partisan 1
(2019)
23 October 2019 – present
(Term expires on 23 October 2024)
  1. On 25 July the National Constituent assembly proclaimed the Republic. The parliament designated Prime Minister Bourguiba as President of the Republic until the next presidential election, after drafting the constitution.
  2. During this term, Bourguiba proclaimed himself president for life and served in that capacity until he was deposed in the 1987 coup d'état.
  3. Following the 1987 coup d'état, Prime Minister Ben Ali took office as President of Tunisia until the next general election.
  4. During this term, Ben Ali was deposed in the Tunisian Revolution.
  5. Mebazaa left the party leadership on January 18 and the DCR was dissolved on 9 March 2011.
  6. Fouad Mebazaa was appointed the 3rd President of Tunisia in an acting capacity on 15 January 2011. Under Article 57 of the Constitution, an election should have taken place between 45 and 60 days following Mebazaa's appointment. But on 3 March 2011, he announced the repeal of the 1959 Constitution and the election of a constituent assembly charged with drafting a new constitution. His term lasted nearly a year until the newly formed Constituent Assembly elected a new president.
  7. Marzouki was elected by the National Constituent Assembly as President of Tunisia until the drafting of a new constitution and the election of a new president.
  8. Mohamed Ennaceur, as Speaker of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, became interim president of the Republic following the death of President Beji Caid Essebsi on 25 July 2019. He remained in office until an early election took place on 23 October 2019.
  9. The official website of the President of Tunisia considers Saied to be the seventh to hold the office. There are no distinctions between elected and interim presidents.[2]

Rank by time in office


Habib Bourguiba
Longest presidency:
30 years, 105 days
19571987

Mohamed Ennaceur
Shortest presidency:
90 days
20192019
Rank President Time in office
1 Habib Bourguiba 30 years, 105 days
2 Zine El Abidine Ben Ali 23 years, 68 days
3 Fouad Mebazaa
(Acting President)
332 days
4 Moncef Marzouki 3 years, 18 days
5 Beji Caid Essebsi 4 years, 206 days
6 Mohamed Ennaceur
(Acting President)
90 days
7 Kais Saied 1 year, 101 days

Living former presidents

There are three living former Tunisian presidents:

Timeline

References

  1. "Tunisie : Ben Ali prête serment et annonce des mesures historiques" [Tunisia: Ben Ali sworn in, announces historical measures]. Business News (in French). 13 November 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  2. رئيس الجمهورية قيس سعيد [President of the Republic Kais Saied]. Carthage.tn (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.

See also

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