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Tunisia's Moderate Ennahda VP Mourou to Run in Presidential Elections

Reuters

   TUNIS, TUNISIA - Tunisia's biggest political party Ennahda named a
   candidate for presidential elections on Tuesday, the first time the
   moderate Islamist party has put up a nominee for the post since the
   country transitioned to democracy after the 2011 revolution.

   Party vice president Abdel Fattah Mourou, 71, a lawyer, will run in
   elections due to be held two months early on Sept. 15 following the
   death of president Beji Caid Essebsi last month.

   Liberal Prime Minister Youssef Chahed will also stand, his Tahaya
   Tounes party said last week, making him one of the likely frontrunners
   to succeed Essebsi.

   Other candidates who have announced their intention to run include
   liberal former Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa and Moncef Marzouki, who
   served as interim president for three years after autocrat Zine El
   Abidine Ben Ali was toppled.

   Essebsi was chosen in the first democratic presidential election in
   2014.

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