TUNIS, Tunisia, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Tunisia says human rights activist Moncef Marzouki has been elected as the country's first democratically elected president.
Marzouki, who will serve as interim president, struggled for years against Tunisia's longtime dictator President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and was imprisoned in 1994 after he attempted to run against him, bikyamasr.com reported Tuesday.
Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in January in the wake of massive civil demonstrations in Tunisia that sparked a wave of Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.
Marzouk, a member of the Congress for the Republic Party, was elected with 153 out of 217 votes in the new parliament. There were three votes against, two abstentions and 44 blank ballots in protest, bikyamasr.com said.
"It is the greatest honor that anyone could dream of being elected by two thirds of the vote," he was quoted as saying. "I will exert all my efforts to be worthy of this trust."
