Is Tunisia’s fragile democracy under threat?
In the midst of stifling political, health and economic crises, Tunisian President Kais Saied decided to sack the prime minister and suspend parliament in a move some described as a “coup.”
TUNIS — Tunisian President Saied Kais named a new interior minister on Thursday, less than a week after he had sacked the prime minister and dissolved the country's parliament in moves he claimed were in line with public opinion and aimed at safeguarding the country. His opponents, meanwhile, decried what they deemed a blatant power grab and "coup," and the country remains sharply divided.
Kais issued on July 29 a presidential decree appointing Ridha Garsalaoui, a former national security adviser to the presidency, to run the Interior Ministry, according to a video posted on the Tunisian presidency’s official Facebook page.
In a July 28 meeting with the head of the Tunisian Union for Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), Samir Majoul, Saied proposed that all those involved in looting public money must finance development projects in poor regions, claiming that "460 people have stolen from the state coffers and they are required to return 13.5 billion dinars [about $4.8 billion]."
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Court of First Instance in Tunis, Mohsen Dali, announced on July 28 that an investigation had been opened into allegations that Ennahda, Qalb Tounes and the Aich Tounsi association received funds from unknown sources during their 2019 electoral campaign. In a statement to the state paper Assabah, Dali said that an investigation has also been opened into the “mismanagement of funds belonging to the Tunisian Anti-corruption Authority (INLUCC)” during Chawki Tabib’s chairmanship of the body.
