Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who looks set to be re-elected to a fourth consecutive term in Sunday’s elections, has brought economic growth to his north African country but has been widely criticised for his harsh stand on human rights.
Ben Ali, 68, took power in a bloodless coup in 1987 ousting president-for-life Habib Bourguiba, the country’s first head of state after Tunisia’s independence from France in 1956, on the grounds that he was senile.
Having served as interior minister and prime minister under Bourguiba, Ben Ali had an intimate knowledge of the workings of government and initially set out to usher in a new era of human rights and democratic principles.
Hungry for a change, Tunisians welcomed his initiatives, which led to legal reforms between 1987 and 1989 that included the release of political prisoners and an end to restrictions on political parties.
A constitutional change was also introduced limiting a president, including Ben Ali, to a maximum three electoral terms of five years each.
The economy, in the meantime, was growing at a healthy five percent annually and reforms were introduced in the health and education sectors.
Ben Ali also continued in his predecessor’s footsteps in boosting women’s rights, whose status was then virtually unequaled in the Arab world.
But wary of the increasing popularity of the opposition, including the Islamic Ennahda (Renaissance) Party, Ben Ali’s government changed course in the early 1990s, suspending political rights, muzzling the press and cracking down on human rights activists.
Such was his dominance on the political scene that in the first multi-party elections in 1999, he claimed 99.4 percent of the popular vote despite running against two other candidates.
And though he was due to retire in 2004, he organized a controversial referendum in 2002 which allows him to stay in office for a further two terms, if he wishes, until 2014 and provides him with immunity from prosecution.
Ben Ali has vowed to boost multiparty democracy and further women’s rights if elected on Sunday and has received a wave of endorsements from civil organizations and even two opposition parties, the Social Democratic Movement (MDS) and the Unionist Democratic Union (UDU).
But those who refuse to toe the official line are dealt with severely.
According to rights groups, there are currently some 600 prisoners of conscience in the country’s jails. The government, however, charges that they are all common criminals.
Born into a modest but respected family in the town of Hammam-Sousse, near the eastern coast, Ben Ali graduated from the prestigious French military academy at St Cyr and the artillery school at Chalons-sur-Marne before continuing his military education in the United States.
He served as Tunisia’s ambassador to Poland in 1980 and was then appointed head of national security and secretary of state.
He succeeded at the time in dealing with rising radical Islamic activity and was appointed interior minister in 1986. He retained that position when appointed prime minister in October 1987, a month before he deposed Bourguiba.

Agence France-Presse
Tunis - 21 - 10 - 2004