Beji Caid Essebsi on Wednesday took the constitutional oath as Tunisia’s first democratically-elected President following a 2011 revolution that ousted autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali

Beji Caid Essebsi on Wednesday took the constitutional oath as Tunisia's first democratically-elected President following a 2011 revolution that ousted autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Essebsi, who served as a parliament speaker under Ben Ali, defeated incumbent interim President Moncef Marzouki in the presidential runoff on December 21.

Essebsi, the leader of the centrist Nidaa Tounes Party, won 55.68 percent of the votes.

Essebsi told parliament he would be "the president of all Tunisians" and "the guarantor of national unity". "There is no future for Tunisia without consensus among political parties and members of civil society," he said. "There is no future for Tunisia without national reconciliation."
  
Essebsi's opponents have accused him of seeking a return to the era of Ben Ali, who clung to power for 23 years, combining authoritarian rule with a degree of prosperity and stability for his people.