Beji Caid Essebsi sworn in as Tunisia president Wednesday Dec 31,2014

 

Beji Caid Essebsi(88)was sworn in as Tunisia's first freely elected president at a ceremony in parliament on Wednesday Dec 31,2014

The election of Essebsi, a veteran of previous regimes, is seen as a landmark for the birthplace of the Arab Spring, where longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled four years ago.

Beji Caid Essebsi's victory over outgoing president Moncef Marzouki capped Tunisia's sometimes troubled transition to democracy and has won praise from Western leaders.

Beji Caid Essebsi told parliament he would be "the president of all Tunisians" and "the guarantor of national unity".
"There is no future for Tunisia without consensus among political parties and members of civil society," he said. "There is no future for Tunisia without national reconciliation."

Beji Caid Essebsi's opponents have accused him of seeking a return to the era of Ben Ali, who clung to power for 23 years, combining authoritarian rule with a degree of prosperity and stability for his people.

Following independence from France in 1956, he became an adviser to the country's founding father and first president, Habib Bourguiba, holding a number of key jobs under him and then Ben Ali.

Beji Caid Essebsi's Nidaa Tounes movement, which won landmark parliamentary elections in October, includes many members of Ben Ali's old ruling party.