Beji Caid Essebsi
Veteran
anti-Islamist politician Beji Caid Essebsi was declared the winner of
Tunisia’s first free presidential election on Monday, capping off the
transition to democracy in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
But
in a sign of the challenges ahead, police fired tear gas to disperse
hundreds of youths who burned tyres in protest at the result.
Essebsi,
an 88-year-old former official in previous Tunisian regimes, took 55.68
per cent of the vote to defeat incumbent Moncef Marzouki in Sunday’s
run-off, the electoral commission said.
Essebsi had claimed
victory shortly after polls closed but Marzouki, a long-exiled
69-year-old rights activist, refused initially to concede defeat.
On Monday, however, Marzouki’s spokesman said on Facebook the outgoing president had congratulated his rival.
A first round of voting on November 23 had seen Essebsi in the lead with 39 percent of the vote, six points ahead of Marzouki.
Participation
in the second round was 60.1 percent, electoral commission chief Chafik
Sarsar said, after authorities had urged a high turnout.
US
President Barack Obama congratulated Essebsi and hailed the vote as “a
vital step toward the completion of Tunisia’s momentous transition to
democracy”, a White House statement said.
Obama’s secretary of
state, John Kerry, said: “Tunisia has provided a shining example to the
region and the world of what can be achieved through dedication to
democracy, consensus, and an inclusive political process.”
The
vote was seen as a landmark in Tunisia, which sparked the Arab Spring
mass revolutions with the 2011 ouster of longtime strongman Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali.
However, the campaign was bitter and divisive,
with Marzouki insisting a win for Essebsi would mark the return of
Tunisia’s old guard of ruling elites.
Essebsi in turn accused his
rival of representing the moderately Islamist party Ennahda that ruled
Tunisia after the revolution and which installed him as president.
Continued
divisions were clear as some 300-400 protesters clashed with police in
El Hamma in the south, where Marzouki had widespread support.
Protesters
“set fire to tyres and tried to attack a police station by throwing
stones. Security forces responded with tear gas,” interior ministry
spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said.
Several police were wounded in the clashes, which began late on Sunday, Aroui said.
After declaring victory on Sunday, Essebsi had urged Marzouki to “work together for the future of Tunisia”.
– ‘Milestone’ vote –
The vote was the first time Tunisians have freely elected their president since independence from France in 1956.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Monday congratulated the country on its “milestone” vote.
“The successful staging of this presidential election confirms Tunisia’s historic role,” he said in a statement.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in neighbouring Algeria also congratulated Essebsi and the “maturity” of the Tunisian electorate.
The
weekly Tunis Hebdo said the vote would “enhance Tunisia’s reputation as
the only Arab Spring country that has managed to survive”.
The
revolution that began in Tunisia spread to many parts of the Arab world,
with mass protests in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen.
In every country except Tunisia the revolution was followed by violent turmoil or, as in Syria’s case, a devastating civil war.
Sunday’s
vote was largely peaceful, though troops guarding ballot papers in the
central region of Kairouan who came under attack shot dead one assailant
and captured three, the defence ministry said.
The authorities had deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and police for polling day.
Ahead of the vote, jihadists had issued a videotaped threat against Tunisia’s political establishment.
Essebsi’s
Nidaa Tounes party won parliamentary polls in October and he promised
to begin the process of forming a government after the presidential
vote.
Under a new post-revolution constitution, the powers of the
president have been curbed to guard against a return to dictatorship.
Ennahda came second in the general election and has not ruled out joining in a governing coalition.
The next government will face major challenges.
Tunisia’s
economy is struggling to recover from the upheaval of the revolution
and there are fears that widespread joblessness will cause social
unrest.
A nascent jihadist threat has also emerged, with militant
groups long suppressed under Ben Ali carrying out several attacks
including the killings of two anti-Islamist politicians.
