Tunisia to elect President tomorrow

Tunisia's Constituent Assembly ended a five day marathon session on Saturday with adoption of the procedural bylaws. Chairman of the Assembly Dr. Mustapha Ben Jaafar has announced that the final vote for of the President of the Republic of Tunisia will be held on Monday, December 12th, and that the nominations are now open.  The Constituent Assembly adopted a provisional constitution that will allow the country to name a government, a month and a half after its first post-revolution election.  The 217-member assembly approved each of the 26 clauses of the document individually to get state institutions back on the move before voting on the entire basic law.  The vote came after a five-day often tumultuous debate which saw hundreds of people demonstrating calmly outside the assembly building shouting slogans demanding "Freedom and Dignity".  The election of a president and creation of a new government could only take place once lawmakers adopted the "mini-constitution", laboriously drawn up over two weeks after the elections.  "This is a historic moment, a memorable night, the beginning of a new Tunisia," said assembly president Mustapha Ben Jaafar, as deputies sang the national anthem and those of Ennahda, which has 98 deputies, congratulated each other on the outcome of the vote.  Ben Jaafar said he was "proud to head an assembly that groups Tunisia's best thanks to the revolution of its brave people".  The adopted document outlines the conditions and procedures to follow by the country's executive, legislature and judiciary until general elections are held, possibly in a year, and until a final constitution is agreed.  Ben Jaafar said candidacies for the presidency were open and added that the new head of state would be elected on Monday afternoon.  Moncef Marzouki, head of the Congress for the Republic Party, which has 29 deputies, was widely expected to take over the presidency and name Hamadi Jebali, the number two of the Ennahda party, as prime minister.  The ruling coalition of Ennahda and two left-wing parties, the Congress for the Republic Party and Ben Jaafar's Ettakatol, which has 20 deputies, had earlier agreed on this scenario for a transfer of power.  The president will outline the country's foreign policy in agreement with the head of government, and is the head of the armed forces. But he only names or dismisses senior officers in agreement with the prime minister.