Habib Essid ( ar, حبيب الصيد; born 1 June 1949) is a

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

n politician who was

Head of Government of Tunisia The president of Tunisia, officially the president of the Tunisian Republic ( ar, رئيس الجمهورية التونسية), is the head of state of Tunisia. Tunisia is a presidential republic, whereby the president is the head of state an ...

from 6 February 2015 to 27 August 2016. He was the first Head of Government to be appointed following the adoption of the new constitution and thus considered to be the first Head of Government of the Second Tunisian Republic. He previously served as Minister of the Interior in 2011.

Early life, education and professional life

Born in

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

in 1949, Essid received his master's degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from

Tunis University Tunis University ( ar, جامعة تونس, french: link=no, Université de Tunis) is a university in Tunis, Tunisia. It was founded in 1960 on the basis of earlier educational establishments. The University of Tunis is a member of the Mediterr ...

and added a masters programme in

agricultural economics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. He started his career in the public sector, notably in the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1993, he was named cabinet director at the Ministry of Agriculture, remaining in that post until 1997. He later served as cabinet director at the Ministry of the Interior. In 2001, he was appointed as Secretary of State for Fishing and later on as Secretary of State for the Environment. From 2004 to 2010, Habib Essid was Executive Director of the

International Olive Council The International Olive Council (IOC) (formerly the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC)) is an intergovernmental organization of states that produce olives or products derived from olives, such as olive oil. Originally established in under t ...

, headquartered in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. After the

Tunisian Revolution The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El ...

, he was appointed as Minister of the Interior in the government of Prime Minister

Beji Caid Essebsi Beji Caid Essebsi (or es-Sebsi; ar, الباجي قائد السبسي, translit=Muhammad al-Bājī Qā’id as-Sibsī, ; 29 November 1926 – 25 July 2019) was a Tunisian politician who served as the 6th president of Tunisia from 31 December 20 ...

on 28 March 2011. He was also chosen by

Hamadi Jebali Hamadi Jebali ( ar, حمادي الجبالي, '; born 12 January 1949) is a Tunisian engineer, Muslim politician and journalist who was Prime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to March 2013. He was the Secretary-General of the Ennahda Move ...

to be his Security Advisor following the 23 October 2011 elections.

Head of Government of Tunisia

On 5 January 2015, Essid was nominated as Head of Government by

Nidaa Tounes Nidaa Tounes ( ar, حركة نداء تونس ', french: Appel de la Tunisie; usually translated as "Call of Tunisia", "Call for Tunisia", or "Tunisia's Call") is a big tent secularist political party in Tunisia. After being founded in 2012, ...

and asked to form a new government. Initially, he formed a government composed of two political parties: Nidaa Tounes and the

Free Patriotic Union The Free Patriotic Union ( ar, الاتحاد الوطني الحرّ, translit=el-Itiḥād el-Waṭanī el-Ḥurr; french: Union patriotique libre), known by its French acronym UPL, is a political party in Tunisia. History and profile Establi ...

. Following the announcement, all excluded political parties rejected the formation, leaving Essid short of the required 109 seats needed to obtain confidence. On 2 February 2015 the newly appointed

Head of Government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

announced an inclusive new coalition government whose members include representatives of the Islamist

Ennahda The Ennahda Movement ( ar, حركة النهضة, Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; french: link=no, Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Fou ...

party and the secular parties Nidaa Tounes, the Free Patriotic Union and the liberals of

Afek Tounes Afek Tounes ( ar, آفاق تونس, "Tunisian Aspiration(s)" or "Horizons of Tunisia") is a centre-right political party in Tunisia. Its program is liberal, focusing on secularism and civil liberties. The party mainly appealed to intellectuals a ...

. On 5 February 2015, Essid's cabinet was approved by the parliament. The cabinet was sworn in the following day. On 26 June 2015, in the wake of the

2015 Sousse attacks On 26 June 2015, a mass shooting occurred at the tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, about 10 kilometres north of the city of Sousse, Tunisia. Thirty-eight people, 30 of whom were British, were killed when a gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui, attacked a ...

, Essid promised to close 80 mosques within the week. The tourism industry, prior to the March

Bardo National Museum attack On 18 March 2015, two militants attacked the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capital city of Tunis, and took hostages. Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, and an additional victim died ten days later. Aro ...

, accounted for seven percent of Tunisia's GDP and almost 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The government also plans to crack down on financing for certain associations as a countermeasure against another attack. Essid announced that: Essid lost a parliamentary confidence vote on 30 July 2016; there were 118 votes against him and three in favor.Mohammed Argoubi
"Tunisia lawmakers vote to dismiss prime minister"
Reuters, 30 July 2016.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essid, Habib 1949 births Government ministers of Tunisia Living people People from Sousse Prime Ministers of Tunisia 21st-century Tunisian politicians Interior ministers of Tunisia