Tunis: Rights activist and former opposition leader Munsif Al Marzouki was sworn in on Tuesday as Tunisia's first elected president since the north African country's revolution sparked the Arab Spring.
"I will be the guarantor of the national interests, the state of laws and institutions. I will be faithful to the martyrs and to the objectives of the revolution," Al Marzouki said as he took his oath of office.
Al Marzouki was elected with 153 votes in the 217-member constituent assembly, with three of the 202 deputies present voting against, two abstaining and 44 opposition members casting blank ballots.
The national anthem played in the assembly as supporters shouted "Loyalty to the Martyrs of the Revolution" after the vote was held.
On Monday, Al Marzouki addressed the opposition, saying: "I have received your message that you will be keeping an eye on me." Among those who voted against Al Marzouki was Samir Bettaieb of the left-wing Democratic Modernist Pole.
"This election took place on the basis of an unbalanced text that gives a lot of power to a designated head of government at the expense of an elected president," he told AFP.
Al Marzouki's inauguration took place at the presidential palace in Carthage, 11 months after the ouster of Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali sparked the Arab Spring revolts that also saw long-time dictators toppled in Egypt and Libya.
"I have the great honour of becoming the first president of the first free republic of the Arab world," the French-trained doctor told AFP.
Al Marzouki's first order of business will be to name a prime minister, with Hamadi Jebali, the number two of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, expected to get the nod.
