2014 Tunisian presidential election the election, with 55.68% of the run-off vote. Protests in Tunisia began in December 2010 with riots in Sidi Bouzid after Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight in protest against the confiscation of his fruit and vegetable cart. The riots then spread across the country and continued into 2011. Days after a curfew was imposed in the capital Tunis amid continuing conflagrations, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali left the country. Ben Ali's Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi briefly took over as acting president before he handed power over to parliamentary speaker Fouad Mebazaa after the head of Tunisia's Constitutional Court, Fethi
Fouad Mebazaa Constitutional Democratic Rally since 1988. From 1995 to 1998 he was Mayor of Carthage. He was also elected President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1997 and reelected in 2004. After the exile of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia following continued protests, Mebazaa was appointed as President following the Constitutional Council's interpretation of the situation and the Constitution. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi had briefly claimed to be President the previous day, prior to the Constitutional Council's declaration of its opinion. Under Article 57 of the Constitution, an election was to take place between 45 and 60