Former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s death on 19 September did not grip the majority of Tunisians as much as the presidential election earlier that week, which has left two populist outsiders competing to replace the late Béji Caïd Essebsi in a second round of voting, expected in October. Ben Ali seized power in November 1987 from president-for-life Habib Bourguiba, a genuine giant of post-colonial politics who had become incapable of ruling.