Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (, '; born 3 September 1936), commonly known as Ben Ali, is a Tunisian former politician who served as President of Tunisia from 1987 until his ousting in 2011. Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister in October 1987, and he assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup d'état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba, who was declared incompetent. Ben Ali was subsequently reelected with enormous majorities, each time exceeding 90% of the vote; the final re-election was on 25 October 2009. On 14 January 2011, following a
Mohamed Ghannouchi Passport, a blog by "Foreign Policy", gave a different view of Ghannouchi, saying he "is not necessarily any more popular than Ben Ali, though he's not nearly as tainted by the lurid tales of corruption and excess that so damaged the ruling family. But Tunisians certainly don't respect the prime minister; they call him 'Mr. Oui Oui' because he's always saying yes to Ben Ali". On 14 January 2011, before Ben Ali had fled the country during the Tunisian Revolution, Ghannouchi announced that Ben Ali had called for parliamentary elections in six months, dismissed the government, and asked him to