Mohamed Ghannouchi
During the Tunisian revolution, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali left Tunisia on 14 January 2011 and Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi stated that he became the acting President under Article 56 of the Constitution. Al Jazeera claimed that lawyers disagreed with Ghannouchi's claim, since under Article 57 of the Constitution of Tunisia, the Constitutional Council should meet and the leader of one of the houses of the Tunisian parliament should become an interim President. The Constitutional Council declared that "the post of president is definitely vacant" and declared that, under Article 57, Fouad Mebazaa should become the interim President, with the obligation to call for elections within 45 to 60 days.