Tunisia speaker sworn in as interim president

Tunisian Parliament speaker Mohamed Ennaceur was sworn in as interim president Thursday, hours after President Beji Caid Essebsi’s death, in a smooth transition of power in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.

Under Tunisia’s constitution, the president should assume the presidency for 45 to 90 days while a new election is organized.

First, the Constitutional Court is supposed to confirm that the presidency is vacant. However, the court itself doesn’t exist yet, because lawmakers disagree over who its members should be. That could raise questions about the legitimacy of Ennaceur’s leadership.

In a brief speech, Ennaceur called on Tunisians “to strengthen your unity and solidarity so that the country can pursue its march toward progress.”

Essebsi, 92, died Thursday at the Tunis military hospital, and a state funeral is planned Saturday. The government declared seven days of mourning, as condolences poured in from several Arab countries.

“On Thursday morning, the President of the Republic died at the military hospital in Tunis. ... The burial ceremony will be announced later,” a presidency statement said.

The prime minister declared seven days of national mourning.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Jordan’s royal court also declared multiple days of mourning.

Most of Essebsi’s political career came well before the Arab Spring uprisings, and he outlived most of his peers in Tunisia’s independence generation. “We are sad today about the death of our president but proud that ... there will not be a vacuum in this young democracy. ... The country has a new president in a short time today,” journalist Zied Krichen said.

The next presidential election, hitherto set for Nov. 17, will now be held Sept. 15, the electoral commission chief said, without giving a date. A parliamentary vote is set for Oct. 6. The coming elections will be the third set of polls in which Tunisians have been able to vote freely since the 2011 uprising.

Essebsi rose to prominence after the overthrow of veteran autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, which was followed by Arab Spring uprisings against authoritarian leaders across the Middle East, including in nearby Libya and Egypt.

Drafted in as premier after Ben Ali’s fall, Essebsi in 2012 founded the secular Nidaa Tounes party, now part of the governing coalition, to counterbalance the resurgence of Islamists who were suppressed under Ben Ali. Two years later, Essebsi became Tunisia’s first freely elected head of state.

“After the revolution, the president led the people to avoid conflict, led the democratic transition and was keen to build and complete the constitutional institutions,” the presidency statement said.

Analyst Ibrahim Ouslati said the death of Essebsi, one of the world’s oldest leaders, was not likely to disrupt politics. “I don’t think there will be any problem because Tunisians have a constitution that clearly shows that the speaker of the Parliament occupies the position temporarily,” he told Reuters. “The political elite has enough awareness to manage it wisely like any democratic country.”

Tunisia has been hailed as the only democratic success of the Arab Spring uprisings, with a new constitution, free elections and a coalition government of moderate Islamist and secular parties in a region otherwise struggling with upheaval. But political progress has not been matched by economic advances. Unemployment stands at about 15 percent, up from 12 percent in 2010, due to weak growth and low investment.

Rached Ghannouchi, influential leader of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, said Essebsi had presided over a smooth evolution toward democracy by promoting inclusive politics.

Essebsi faced criticism, however, that he was seeking a return to a strong state with power concentrated in the presidency, whose role is limited to foreign and defense policies under the new constitution.