Tunisian President Saied: ‘A populist criticising representative democracy’ standing for re-election
Tunisian President Kais Saied is standing for a second term in an election set for October 6. Accused of authoritarianism by the opposition, the incumbent is maintaining an iron grip on the country’s political life, which has seen arrests of potential candidates and the recent replacement of 19 ministers. FRANCE 24 speaks with Tunisian essayist Hatem Nafti.
In a speech broadcast on Sunday night, Saied announced the dismissal of Tunisia' foreign minister, the defence minister and 17 other cabinet members. The move followed the surprise replacement of former premier Ahmed Hachani with Prime Minister Kamel Madouri on August 7.
The president justified this sweeping change in the name of “national security” and “the supreme interest of the state”. He said that “a corrupt system whose participants hope for a return to the past” has “managed to manipulate” a large number of officials and block the inner workings of the state.
At least three candidates will face him in the October 6 presidential vote: Zouhair Maghzaoui, a former MP from the pan-Arab left; Ayachi Zammel, an industrialist and the leader of a liberal party; and Abdellatif Mekki, a conservative Islamist.
A Tunisian court on Thursday accepted the appeal of Mondher Znaidi, a former minister who worked with the late president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, against the rejection of his candidacy by the election authority.
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