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
Timeline of the Arab Spring former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison, by an Egyptian court. On 13 June, the former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was sentenced to prison, by a Tunisian court. On 16th & 17th June, the Egyptian people voted in the 2nd round of a presidential run-off election, in which Mohammed Morsi received the most votes. On 24 June 2012, Egypt's election commission announced that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi had won Egypt's presidential runoff. Morsi won by a narrow margin over Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. The commission