Tunisia under political up heal as President sacks more officials from the ministry

In the heated situation of Tunisia, political uncertainty has become a new reality. President Kais Saied has suspended even more officials after firing parliament. Prime groups of civil society warned against an illegitimate extension of Saied’s 30-day suspension of parliament. They also called for a joint statement so as to take political action.

President sacked Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and other ministers, promising changes to the political system and to root out the corrupt politicians. On one hand, his bold steps and announcements were acknowledged by citizens and on the other side, his actions were under suspicion.

Almost three days on from his initial declaration of exceptional circumstances and taking control of the country into his own hands, Saied has failed to appoint the first minister. He has also not finalized his course of action for the promised war on corruption against politicians and Tunisia’s business elite.

On the contrary, so far no politicians or businessmen have been arrested so far. Instead, a handful of investigations into political figures and parties have been announced in the press. iWatch, which is a Tunisian association focused on investigating corruption, had teams of specially trained observers working across the country. These target groups were initiated during the 2019 legislative and presidential elections.

SlaheddineJourchi, who is a political scientist said that President Saied will be very careful in choosing the future head of government because he wants a trustworthy and loyal person who would adopt the same policies as him. 

Usually, the young democracy had often been cited as the sole success story of the Arab Spring, however, after a decade of existence, Tunisia with a population of 12 million people say they have seen little improvement in living standards, and have grown infuriated by protracted political deadlock with infighting among the elite.