Tunisia: state affairs now running ‘normally’, claims president

Tunisia’s President Kais Saied, who suspended parliament and dismissed the prime minister last month, said yesterday that state affairs and institutions are running “normally” despite the fact that the country is going through “exceptional circumstances”.

Having taken on executive powers, Saied met with Education Minister Fethi Sellaouti yesterday along with a number of officials responsible for education, curricula and school textbooks. Following the meeting, the president said that attention is being given to all sectors controlled by the state.

He added that the “measures” he took were “necessitated by the danger” that became “a daily reality” in the country. “These measures were taken in a constitutional and legal framework, and they are not a coup as some people claim. I am no advocate of coups, but rather an advocate of implementing the law.”

The majority of Tunisian political parties denounced Saied’s move and the exceptional measures that he imposed. Some described it as “a coup against the constitution” while others praised it as a “corrective” step that was needed in light of the exceptional crises that the country has been facing in the political, economic and health sectors.

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