Beji Caid El-Sebsi puts his hand on the Qur’an to be sworn in as new Tunisian president during a ceremony at the National Assembly in Tunis, Tunisia, on December 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)
Tunis, AP—Tunisia’s new president pledged a rule of reconciliation and consensus as he took his oath Wednesday before the newly elected parliament to complete the country’s democratic transition.
The inauguration of Beji Caid El-Sebsi, an 88-year-old political veteran, comes in a year in which Tunisians wrote a new constitution and elected a new parliament and president, ending a transition kicked off by a revolution.
Tunisians overthrew longtime dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and inspired similar pro-democracy uprisings across North Africa and the Arab world, but only in Tunisia did fierce political rivals find common ground.
The victory of Sebsi, who served under Ben Ali and his predecessor and whose party includes many members of the previous regime, is widely seen as a search for stability after the post-revolutionary turmoil.
Sebsi won over 55 percent of the vote on December 21 after a campaign marked by bitter exchanges with outgoing president Moncef Marzouki, who feared a return to dictatorship. A human rights activist, Marzouki represented the fervor and possibilities of the revolution but his tenure was marked by unrest, terror attacks and economic problems.
“We will work today to replace fear with hope,” Sebsi said before parliament as he began his five-year term. “There is no future for Tunisia without consensus and without harmony between all the parties and civil society.”
He said his priorities would be to re-establish security and stability, create jobs and fight poverty.
Sebsi must now designate a prime minister from his party, Nida Tunis, to form a new coalition government.
The question remains whether the Islamists, who ran the country for two years and are the second-largest group in parliament, will be part of any new government.
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.
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