TUNIS: Tunisia’s 92-year-old president, Beji Caid Essebsi, who helped guide the North African country’s transition to democracy after a 2011 revolution, has died, the presidency said on Thursday.
A leading figure in the country’s fortunes since the “Arab Spring” uprising eight years ago, Essebsi was hospitalised late last month for a week after suffering what authorities described as a severe health crisis.
The speaker of parliament, Mohamed Ennaceur, said he would become the temporary president, in line with the constitution.
The next presidential election, hitherto set for November 17, will now be held earlier, the electoral commission chief said, without elaborating.
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