Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Ben Ali was re-elected for a fifth term with 89% of the vote. The African Union sent a team of observers to cover the election. The delegation was led by Benjamin Bounkoulou, who described the election as "free and fair". However, a spokesperson from the US State Department indicated that Tunisia had not permitted monitoring of the election by international observers, but that the U.S. was still committed to working with the Ben Ali and the Tunisian government. There also were reports of mistreatment of an opposition candidate. In December 2010 and January 2011, riots over unemployment escalated into a
Rached Ghannouchi was again released in 1988. He moved to the United Kingdom as a political exile, where he lived for 22 years. He attended The Islamic Committee for Palestine conference in Chicago in 1989. Following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Al-Ghannushi denounced King Fahd of Saudi Arabia for the "colossal crime" of inviting the U.S. to deploy forces. He also called for a Muslim boycott of American goods, planes and ships. He has also been criticized for calling for jihad against Israel. Ghannouchi continued to criticise Tunisian politics and the regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Following popular unrest