Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (, ; born 3 September 1936) was the second
President of Tunisia from 1987 to 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.