Leadership Profile: Beji Caid Essebsi

Beji Caid Essebsi

Quick Facts

  • Born November 29, 1926.
  • At 88 years of age, he is one of the oldest democratically elected presidents
  • He is a member of the Nidaa Tounes Party, of which he founded.
  • He has an extensive political career, beginning in the 1950s where he was an adviser to the founder of the Tunisian state, Habib Bourguiba.
  • He has held a number of important positions within the Tunisian government, including:
    • Minister of Defence
    • Minister of the Interior
    • Speaker of the House
    • President of the Chamber of Deputies
    • Currently, President of Tunisia

Essebsi is a man with profound political experience, with a career spanning 60 years[1]. Essebsi has been characterized as the ‘old man’ for his extensive career in politics, and his political savvy.[2] Essebsi is a tireless worker with a deep loyalty to his country, demonstrated by his long political career. Essebsi has cast himself as a technocrat who is the only one with the political prowess to lead Tunisia to stability.[3] He will lead through cooperation, as he has already indicated in his victory speech – perhaps learning from his time as interim prime minister, where he was criticized as being too unilateral.[4] He will undoubtedly pursue liberal democratic, secular, and free market policies, as he is a strong advocate of such measures.[5] For these reasons, he enjoys strong support from businessmen, intellectuals, some trade unions and secularists – largely concentrated in the country’s north.[6]