Anti-Islamist politician Beji Caid Essebsi won Tunisia's presidential election with 55.68 percent of the vote, beating incumbent Moncef Marzouki, the electoral commission said Monday.
Essebsi, an 88-year-old veteran of previous governments, becomes the first president freely elected by Tunisians since independence from France in 1956.
He clinched 1.7 million votes against Marzouki's more than 1.3 million in Sunday's runoff election, electoral commission chief Chafik Sarsar told a news conference.