• Two terrorist attacks in Tunis. A policeman died, several wounded

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June 27, 2019On the day when terror returns to hit Tunis a serious illness hits its president, so that the spokesman is forced to deny the rumors of sudden death that are beginning to spread in the media and on social media.

Death denied
The chief adviser of the presidency of Tunisia, Firas Guefrech, denies the rumors about the alleged death of the head of state Beji Caied Essebsi, which have been chasing each other since about an hour after the presidency announced that he was taken to the military hospital in Tunis to following a "serious illness". "Please do not follow the rumors ... The president's situation is stable," says the councilor.

The first elected president democratimente
Essebsi, 92, is the first democratically elected president of Tunisia. He came to power in 2014, three years after the revolution that ended 23 years of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's dictatorship by launching the so-called Arab Spring.

A political veteran, Essebsi had already been an adviser under Habib Bourguiba, that is, the father of Tunisia's independence from France, and had also held a series of prominent positions under Ben Ali. Over the years he had been director of the national police and interior minister, then holder of the defense portfolio, ambassador to France, Tunisia's envoy to Germany and also foreign minister. He held the presidency of the Parliament in 1990 and 1991. After the 2011 revolution, he founded and became president of the new Nidaa Tounes party.

Last April, he announced his intention not to run for Presidential elections in November, to make way for someone younger.

"I think I will not introduce myself" because it is necessary "to make way for the young", he said, four days after the resignation of the Algerian Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced to throw in the towel under the pressure of the square and the military.

In Tunisia parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 6, presidential elections are scheduled for November 17th.