Tunisia
Tunisia, 1956 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. In 1956, Tunisia gained independence as the Tunisian Republic. In 2011, the Tunisian Revolution, which was triggered by dissatisfaction with the lack of freedom and democracy under the 24-year rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, overthrew his regime and catalyzed the broader Arab Spring movement across the region.
Seat of power: Tunis
Rulers
Muhammad VIII of Tunisia
Head of state, 1956–1957
Shortly after independence, Lamine Bey was turned out of his palace along with his family. Lamine Bey was the first person to be honoured, on 19 December 1956, with the decoration of the new Order of Independence.
Habib Bourguiba
President of Tunisia, 1957–1987
During his rule, he implemented a strong education system, worked on developing the economy, supported gender equality, and proclaimed a neutral foreign policy, making him an exception among Arab leaders. The main reform that was passed was the Code of Personal Status which implemented a modern society. A cult of personality also developed around him, before he proclaimed himself president for life in 1975, during his fourth 5-year term.
Portrait of Habib Bourguiba: Habib Osman, Public domain, file
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Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
President of Tunisia, 1987–2011
He assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup d'état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba by declaring him incompetent. He was re-elected in several non-democratic elections where he won with enormous majorities, each time exceeding 90% of the vote. On 14 January 2011, following a month of protests against his rule, he fled to Saudi Arabia.
Portrait of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali: No mention, CC BY 2.0, file
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Moncef Marzouki
President of Tunisia, 2011–2014
On 12 December 2011, he was elected president of Tunisia by the Constituent Assembly. Through his career he has been a human rights activist, physician and politician.
Portrait of Moncef Marzouki: Chatham House Derivative work: ELEL09, CC BY 2.0, file
Fouad Mebazaa
President of Tunisia, 2011–2011
He was the acting president of Tunisia from 15 January 2011 to 13 December 2011. He was Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia from 1991 to 2011.
Portrait of Fouad Mebazaa: Samir Abdelmoumen, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
Mohamed Ghannouchi
President of Tunisia, 2011–2011
He served as the President of Tunisia from 14 to 15 January 2011, holding the powers and duties of the office nominally for the absent President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had fled the country due to the 2011 revolution. Ghannouchi stayed on as prime minister for six more weeks after Ben Ali's overthrow before himself resigning.
Portrait of Mohamed Ghannouchi: MEDEF Derivative work: ELEL09, CC BY-SA 2.0, file
Beji Caid Essebsi
President of Tunisia, 2014–2019
In December 2014, he won the first regular presidential election following the Tunisian Revolution, becoming Tunisia's first democratically elected president. He was the founder of the Nidaa Tounes political party, which won a plurality in the 2014 parliamentary election.
Portrait of Beji Caid Essebsi: Guillaume Paumier, CC BY 3.0, file
Kais Saied
President of Tunisia, 2019 to today
He was sworn in as president on 23 October 2019. On 25 July 2021, Saied dismissed the parliament and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. He ruled by decree until he was successful in passing a new constitution which granted him more powers and called snap legislative elections.
Portrait of Kais Saied: Houcemmzoughi badoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Mohamed Ennaceur
President of Tunisia, 2019–2019
He served as the acting president of Tunisia for 91 days, from President Beji Caid Essebsi's death on 25 July 2019 until he handed over the presidency to Kais Saied as the winner of the 2019 Tunisian presidential election on 23 October 2019.
Portrait of Mohamed Ennaceur: Vice President's Secretariat, GODL-India, file
Culture
- From independence in 1956 until the 2011 revolution, the government and the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), formerly Neo Destour and the Socialist Destourian Party, were effectively one.
- 20 March is celebrated annually as Tunisian Independence Day.
- The Constitution of Tunisia, adopted 26 January 2014, guarantees rights for women.
- The official language of Tunisia is Arabic, and vernacular Tunisian Arabic is the most spoken language.
Picture
Carthage was an ancient city founded by the legendary Phoenician queen Dido on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis, and was destroyed by the Roman Republic during the Third Punic War in 146 BC.
Image: ELEL09, montage, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.