Tunisia elects a Shimon Peres president; Beji Caid Essebsi, an 88-year-old official elected president; liberals cheer; Muslim Brotherhood and so called religious parties cry TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - Tunisian polling firms have declared Beji Caid Essebsi, an 88-year-old official from previous regimes, as the winner of Sundays presidential runoff, cementing his dominance over a country where his party already controls Parliament. The runoff election marks the culmination of a 4-year-long rocky transition to democracy after Tunisians overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, kicking off pro-democracy uprisings around the region in what became known as the Arab Spring. Only in Tunisia, however, has the transition to democracy remained on track, with elections for a permanent parliament held in October and the first round of presidential elections a month later. The Sigma Conseil companys exit polls, which have consistently come close to matching official results released later, gave Essebsi 55.5 percent of the vote and his opponent Moncef Marzouki, the outgoing interim president, 44.5 percent. Other polling companies gave between 52 and 54 percent to Essebsi.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:56:45 +0000
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