Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte on Thursday tweeted condolences for the death of Tunisia's first freely elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, who has passed away aged 92.
"We mourn the death of Tunisia's president Beji Caid Essebsi, a highly experienced statesman and politician of great humanity, who served his country all his life," read the tweet.
"My most sincere condolences and those of Italy's government go to his family and the whole of Tunisia," the tweet added.
Tunisia's presidency announced Essebsi's death after he was admitted to hospital on Wednesday but officials did not say why. Essebsi was hospitalised last month suffering what officials said was a severe health crisis.
Despite calls for him to run, Essebsi announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election in polls expected this November and said "someone younger" should take over.
Essebsi won Tunisia's first free elections in 2014 following Arab uprisings across the region against autocratic regimes. A former lawyer who trained in Paris, he had a long political career and served Tunisia's interior minister and parliament speaker.
