Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi dies at 92

Tunisian president, Beji Caid Essebsi has died at the age of 92, according to media reports. He was taken to a military hospital for unspecified health trouble earlier today, for the third time in recent weeks. According to the constitution, the speaker of parliament will temporarily serve as president.

It is also being reported that changing the date of the presidential elections is also possible after the death of the president.

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. He is Tunisia's first democratically elected president, having won office in 2014 in the wake of the country's Arab Spring uprising.

Parliamentary elections are expected to be held on October 6 with a presidential vote following on November 17. But Essebsi recently announced he wouldn't run in the election scheduled for November, saying a younger person should lead the country. The elections will be the third set of polls in which Tunisians can vote freely following the 2011 revolution.