As the oldest member of the new parliament he automatically became its acting speaker with the departure of the outgoing one Mohamed Ennaceur who himself became acting president on the death of President Béji Caïd Essebsi on 25 July...
Ill-omenedTunisians are not by nature superstitious but the break with the past was underlined for many first by the fact that former President Béji Caïd Essebsi whose death triggered the presidential elections died on the country's Republic Day 26 July...
In the last parliamentary elections in 2014 the lion's share of votes and seats in the National Assembly went to late President Béji Caïd Essebsi's secularist and centrist Nidaa Tounès (NT – 'Call for Tunisia') and Ennahda (AC Vol 55 No 21 Coalition time)...
The smart money is on Defence Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi to succeed President Béji Caïd Essebsi (BCE) who died on 25 July...
One relates to the party politicking of the never-ending democratic transition: the competition for power between a neo-liberal establishment led by President Béji Caïd Essebsi and his Nidaa Tounès (NT) party on the one hand and on the other the Islamist Hizb Ennahda led by the wily Cheikh Rachid Ghannouchi...
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and European Council President Donald Tusk all turned up alongside Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el Sisi Tunisian President Béji Caïd Essebsi and Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia...
Government meanwhile has been less polarised since the Nidaa Tounes party and Ennahda formed a parliamentary and government coalition in 2015 negotiated by their respective leaders President Béji Caïd Essebsi (aka BCE) and Rachid Ghannouchi (AC Vol 57 No 11 Separating mosque and state)...
Bouteflika will turn 81 in March and his supporters point to Tunisia's President Béji Caïd Essebsi who is widely expected to stand for re-election in 2019 just before his 93rd birthday...
Chahed a member of the secularist Nidaa Tounus party is strongly supported by President Béji Caïd Essebsi but his administration has brought together key factions in moves supported by the other leading player in contemporary Tunisian politics Hizb Ennahda leader Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi...