UPDATE- Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi dies at 92

ADDS FURTHER DETAILS

By Ali Abo Rezeg

TUNIS (AA) - Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi died on Thursday at age 92, said a statement by the Tunisian Presidency.

The presidency said Essebsi died in a military hospital in the capital Tunis.

Late on Wednesday, a source in the Tunisian presidency said Essebsi had been hospitalized over health concerns.

He was taken to the military hospital twice in the last month and was discharged on July 1.

In a related development, a source from the Tunisian parliament said a meeting was held between the Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and Parliament Speaker Mohamed Al-Nasser to discuss the country's situation following Essebsi's death.

On July 5, following his discharge from the hospital, Essebsi signed a presidential decree calling Tunisian voters to vote in legislative and presidential elections slated for November 2019.

According to the Tunisian constitution, the country’s parliament speaker will occupy Essebsi's former post as acting president for 45 to 90 days until fresh presidential polls can be held.

Essebsi, Tunisia's first democratically elected president, took office in December 2014 after having served in a variety of key positions in the North African country for several decades, most notably as director of national security, interior minister, defense minister, and foreign minister.

Born in 1926, Essebsi took power in a changed political landscape after Tunisia witnessed a popular revolution known to have sparked the beginning of the Arab Spring uprisings.