Police stand guard during a re-election campaign event of Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki in Sidi Bouzid December 17, 2014. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
TUNIS (Reuters) - In the corner of his office, Tunisian presidential candidate Beji Caid Essebsi keeps a bust of Habib Bourguiba, who led the country in 1957 after its independence from France. It is a symbol, he says, of the kind of statesman Tunisia now needs.
The 88-year-old was a minister in Bourguiba's government and is now standing for President himself. To win however he must convince voters to look past his more recent job -- speaker for the autocratic Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who rigged elections to rule for 24 years until the country threw him out in 2011.
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