Habib Essid (; born 1 June 1949) is a

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who was the

Prime Minister of Tunisia A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

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, Sūsah , or Soussa (, ), 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 of Hammamet, which ...

in 1949, Essid received his master's degree in

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

from

Tunis University Tunis University (, ) is a public 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 Mediterranean University Union (UNIMED) and of Agence univers ...

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 Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. 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 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. The organization's members account ...

, headquartered in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. After the Tunisian Revolution, he was appointed Minister of the Interior in the government of Prime Minister

Beji Caid Essebsi Beji Caid Essebsi (or es-Sebsi; , ; 29 November 1926 – 25 July 2019) was a Tunisian politician who served as the fourth president of Tunisia from 31 December 2014 until his death on 25 July 2019. Previously, he served as minister of foreign af ...

on 28 March 2011. He was also chosen by

Hamadi Jebali Hamadi Jebali (, '; born 12 January 1949) is a Tunisian engineer, politician, and journalist who was Prime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to March 2013. He was the Secretary-General of the Ennahda Movement, a moderate Islamic party in Tun ...

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 ( ', ; 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, the party won a plurality of seats in the October 2014 p ...

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 (; ), known by its French acronym UPL, is a political party in Tunisia. History and profile Established in May 2011 as ''Union patriotique libérale'' and renamed to ''Union patriotique libre'' in June 2011, the party w ...

. 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 In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

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

Ennahda The Ennahda Movement (; ), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Founded as the Movement of Islamic Tendency in 1981, Ennahda was inspired by the Egypti ...

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

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

. 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 Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number) *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album), 2007 * ''15'' (Phatfish album), 2008 * ...

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

Personal life

Habib Essid is married and has three children: his eldest works in Canada, his middle daughter is a professor in food science, and his youngest daughter is a medical resident.

Honors

* Commander and later Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Republic (Tunisia) The Order of the Republic is an order of Tunisia, founded 16 March 1959. Some major recipients Grand Cross National * Mohamed Ennaceur * Beji Caid Essebsi. Foreign * : Abdelaziz Bouteflika * : Carlos Menem * : Gamal Abdel Nasser * : Anwar Sad ...

; * Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit (Tunisia) * Grand Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essid, Habib 1949 births Living people People from Sousse Tunis University alumni University of Minnesota alumni Prime ministers of Tunisia 21st-century Tunisian politicians Interior ministers of Tunisia Recipients of the Order of the Republic (Tunisia) Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Tunisia)