The new president of Tunisia, Beji Caid Essebsi, was sworn.

Beji Caid Essebsi, 88, took Wednesday as president of Tunisia, becoming the first head of state democratically elected in the history of the country, four years after the revolution that sparked the Arab Spring. In a short speech after taking the oath in Parliament, the new head of state promised to "be the president of all Tunisians," calling for "consensus among political parties and members of civil society ". "There is no future for Tunisia without national reconciliation," he added, while many of his critics and actors of the 2011 revolution are concerned about the presence of former executives party of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from his relatives. Mr. Caid Essebsi won on December 21 with some 55% of the vote in the second round of the presidential facing the President Moncef Marzouki. The two men met in the late morning at the Carthage presidential palace for a ceremony. Smiling, they kissed in front of television cameras. A few moments later, Mr. Marzouki left the presidency. Beji Caid Essebsi became the first democratically elected head of state. Before him, the father of independence, Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali were using the plebiscite and rigged elections. Mr. Marzouki was elected in turn by a Constituent Assembly in favor of a political agreement with the Islamist Ennahda.

Mr. Caid Essebsi is a veteran of Tunisian politics having served as a minister under the authoritarian regime of Bourguiba and then briefly as President of the Parliament of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, before going back to public life. He returned to the front of the stage in favor of the revolution, taking a few months as head of government to organize the elections of the Constituent Assembly won by Ennahda. During the following three years, he built his party Nidaa Tounès, a formation of multiple streams including representatives of the ousted regime, has become the main opponent to the Islamists he accuses of having led Tunisia to the edge the precipice. One of the first tasks of the new president will instruct his party to form a government with a prime minister able to get a majority in Parliament, the party that won the parliamentary elections in October, but do not have an absolute majority with 86 seats 217. It will for this particular deal somehow with Ennahda (69 MPs), the second party in the Parliament, and against whom he campaigned vehemently. The other 62 seats return to a multitude of parties ranging from the far left to the center right. The new authorities are expected in the field of the economy, unemployment and poverty in the origin of the remaining endemic revolution. "It is our duty to address the socio-economic problems (...), to realize the promise of the revolution: dignity, employment, health and balance between the regions," said Mr. Essebsi elsewhere. "We proved that democracy is compatible with Arab-Muslim culture, we must now demonstrate that this democracy there is convertible into economic opportunity and prosperity," belongs in La Presse newspaper in an editorial Wednesday. Another challenge, the government will respond to the jihadist threat, while dozens of soldiers and two anti-Islamist political figures have been killed since 2011. It will be more expected on this ground that Mr. Caid Essebsi had stop blaming Ennahda and its predecessor laxity in the matter. Finally, many civil society have warned that they would remain vigilant to avoid a return to authoritarian excesses of the past. "All the events of the history of last 40 years shows the importance of respect for human rights (...) than blood, as prisoners and that memories of torture," notes the newspaper the Time to start "no question of going back on respect for freedom and human rights. The peaceful political change has become a tradition. "