Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi was admitted to a military hospital on Wednesday night, the president’s son, Hafedh Caid Essebsi, confirmed the news, reported Reuters. This is the second health crisis for the 92-year-old president in a month.
Hafedh said his father was admitted to hospital on Wednesday after he suffered the effects of last month’s crisis, confirming an earlier report on local radio. The president had been admitted to hospital late last month and spent a week in hospital after suffering a severe health crisis.
The President’s office did not make an announcement or respond to requests for comment. The office had released a video of the president meeting with the defense minister Monday. In the video, Essebsi was visibly weakened, raising concerns about his fitness for office.
Essebsi has been a prominent figure in Tunisia since the overthrow of veteran autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, which was followed by uprisings against authoritarian leaders across the Middle East, including in nearby Libya and Egypt.
Essebsi is Tunisia’s first democratically elected president. He led the immediate transition as prime minister in 2011 and was elected president three years later. Previously he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1986 and as Prime Minister from February 2011 to December 2011.
The parliamentary elections in Tunisia are set to be held on October 6 with a presidential vote following on November 17. They will be the third set of polls in which the people of Tunisia can vote freely following the 2011 revolution.
Essebsi announced in June he wouldn’t run in the election scheduled for November despite his party’s calls for him to stand. He said a younger person should lead the country. The party has not identified another candidate yet.
