Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Arabic: زين العابدين بن علي, Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali (Arabic: بن علي) or Ezzine (Arabic: الزين), was a Tunisian politician who was the second President of Tunisia from 1987 until his fall in 2011. Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister in October 1987. He assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup d'état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba by declaring him incompetent.[2] Ben Ali was subsequently reelected with enormous majorities, each time exceeding 90% of the vote; his final re-election coming on 25 October 2009.[3] Ben Ali was the penultimate surviving leader deposed in the Arab Spring who was survived by Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, the latter passing due to kidney failure in February 2020.