Tunisian President Kais Saied on Monday said he would appoint a prime minister soon but said emergency measures that he announced in July would continue to be in place, reported Reuters. He didn’t give a specific timeline, however.
“These exceptional measures will continue and a prime minister will be named but on the basis of transitional rulings responding to the will of the people,” President Saied said in a televised speech.
The Tunisian president also said that he would introduce a new electoral law that responds to the will of the people and that he had instituted transitional rules.
Back in July, Mr. Saied dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, suspended Tunisian parliament, and put himself in charge of the prosecution following widespread anti-government protests. He has since renewed the emergency measures for another 30 days and had not responded to calls for a roadmap for lifting them. The opposition accused Saied of carrying out a coup.
Addressing a large crowd in Sidi Bouzid on Monday, he reiterated that his actions were in line with the Tunisian constitution. The country’s constitution allows the president to undertake exceptional measures in case of imminent danger to national security.
Without naming anybody, Saied said “traitors” had “sold out” the country, alleging foreign interference as well as a plot to assassinate him.
“This is not an issue of a government but of an entire system,” he said.
The crowd continued to demand with the shouts of “the people want parliament to be dissolved.”
Saied came to power in 2019 and the current parliament was elected just a week after the president was elected.
More than eight weeks after the big move, Saied has not yet appointed a new prime minister or made any clear declaration of his long-term intentions, even as the country struggles to come over a rolling economic crisis.
