Tunisian president dies at 92, parliament speaker as interim leader
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E-mail Xinhua, July 26, 2019
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi died on Thursday at the age of 92 at a military hospital in the capital Tunis, a presidency statement said.
The Tunisian president died at 10:25 a.m. local time (0925 GMT) and "the funeral ceremony will be announced later," the statement said.
His death coincides with the 62nd anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Tunisia.
Following the president's death, President of the Assembly of People's Representatives Mohamed Ennaceur announced that he will act as interim president of Tunisia.
"The state will remain standing," he said to the reporters in a brief statement.
During the period of interim presidency, a new president will be elected for a full presidential term.
The High Authority for Elections (ISIE) will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon to discuss the measures following the death of the president.
Nabil Baffoun, president of the ISIE, has not ruled out the possibility of changing the date of the scheduled presidential elections in November.
Essebsi was born on Nov. 29, 1926 in Sidi Bou Said in the northern suburbs of the capital.
He studied law in Paris until 1950, and two years later he became a lawyer in his home country.
His first involvement in politics dates back to 1941, when he joined the Neo Destour party, a Tunisian political party that was founded by a group of Tunisian nationalist politicians during the French colonization.
Following the country's independence from France in 1956, he began to exercise high political responsibilities.
He took over the Tunisian presidency after winning the 2014 elections.
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