Does Kais Saied want to stabilize the shaky democracy in Tunisia?
Or is it a coup?
The situation is confusing, but seems to be calming down.
Tunis - In Tunisia, the situation apparently calmed down after the removal of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi on Tuesday.
In the capital, Tunis, the parliament building and key government facilities continued to be surrounded by security forces. President Kais Saied also ordered that all work in public institutions be suspended for two days. A night curfew applies again until the end of August. This has already been done several times to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
Tunisia's largest party, the Islamic conservative Ennahda, called for a national dialogue on Tuesday to end the political crisis and find solutions to pressing economic and social problems.
At the same time, she admitted in a communication that she was behind recent protests critical of the government, which also called for the dissolution of parliament.
The demonstrators had legitimate demands that needed solutions, it was now said.
Ennahda also called on Saied to reverse his decision on Sunday to suspend the work of parliament for the time being.
The President of Parliament and Ennahda boss Rached Ghannouchi is also currently denied access to the building.
The military and security forces should stay out of the political dispute, it also said.
Saied had surprisingly dismissed Prime Minister Mechichi on Sunday evening and suspended the work of parliament. Mechichi declared that he wanted to hand over the responsibility to a successor as ordered by the President. "I can never be a disruptive factor or part of the problem that complicates the situation," he assured me late on Monday evening. He will relinquish responsibility to “protect the safety of all Tunisians”. The announcement was his first public statement after he was disempowered.
Mechichi took up the post as Prime Minister in September 2020. He had the backing of the two strongest parties in parliament, Ennahda and "Kalb Tounes" (heart of Tunisia). Like Mechichi, the two parties are at odds with President Saied. Tensions between Saied and Mechichi had increased after the president refused to swear in nearly a dozen new ministers in January, among other things. dpa