Last year ended with the disappearance of former Minister of Justice Ennahda party leader Nourredine Bhairi whose whereabouts are still unknown preceded by the sentencing in absentia of ex-President Moncef Marzouki to four years in prison...

And with former president Moncef Marzouki he won the Chatham House Prize awarded to the person who has made 'the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year'...

Not so said the country's largest party the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Ennahda party led by parliamentary speaker Rachid Ghannouchi 2011 interim President Moncef Marzouki and several other parties including the main opposition party Qalb Tounes the hardline Islamist Karama Alliance and the Workers' Party formerly the Communist Party...

Moncef Marzouki the human rights activist appointed President in 2011 by the post-revolution Constituent Assembly who came second in the 2014 contest with 44% of the vote is standing again...

Also competing will be ex-president Moncef Marzouki – who is more popular abroad than at home – and some eye-catching populists if as expected the interim state president 85-year-old parliamentary Speaker and NT leader Mohammed Ennaceur follow's BCE's line by refusing to ratify controversial electoral law amendments which would ban media magnate Nabil Karoui and Parti Destourien Libre leader Abir Moussi from standing (AC Vol 60 No 13 Nobbling Nabil)...

On his watch the presidency has again concentrated power meaning that whoever becomes head of state in 2019 will inherit a more powerful office than when BCE replaced Moncef Marzouki...

The head of the African Union observer mission Tunisian ex-President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki also found evidence of only a few 'isolated' irregularities and urged politicians to keep their calm and respect the first-round results...

Former President Moncef Marzouki's Congrès pour la République has now split while Ettakatol Ennahda's coalition partner in the post-Ben Ali transition is weak...