President of Tunisia may in exceptional circumstances put certain draft laws to a referendum. Article 87 specifies that the president enjoys legal immunity while in office. Since the promulgation of a republican constitution in June 1959, three years after gaining independence from France, Tunisia has had just three directly elected presidents. The first president was Habib Bourguiba, who became the country's first president after the proclamation of a republic in 1957; he had been the country's de facto leader as prime minister since independence in 1956. He was formally elected to the post in 1959, and was proclaimed president for life in 1975.
Habib Bourguiba Assembly proclaimed President Habib Bourguiba president for life". In April 1976, another constitutional amendment, confirms the Prime minister as a constitutional successor to the President. During autumn, Bourguiba suffered from a depression which periodically affected him for five years. Locked in the Carthage palace, he hardly had visits. Economically, the government still managed nearly 80% of the country's economy, which involved it in almost all social conflicts. Indeed, businesses were the place of permanent conflict between the syndicalist cells of the TGLU and the professional cell of SPD. In 1978, Bourguiba was obliged to denounce Camp David Accords under the