Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, commonly known as Ben Ali or Ezzine, was a Tunisian politician who was the second President of Tunisia from 1987 until his fall in 2011. Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister in October 1987. He assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup d'état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba by declaring him incompetent. Ben Ali was subsequently reelected with enormous majorities, each time exceeding 90% of the vote; his final re-election coming on 25 October 2009. Ben Ali was the penultimate surviving leader deposed in the Arab Spring who was survived by Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, the latter dying in February 2020.