MADRID 21 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Tunisia, Kais Saied, was sworn into office this Monday after achieving re-election in the last elections in the country and has defended his decision to dissolve Parliament in 2022, a measure interpreted by the Tunisian opposition as a coup d’état.
Saied has been sworn in before parliamentarians in the Assembly of Representatives of the People after the High Independent Authority for Elections (ISIE) ratified his re-election in elections marked by low participation and amid complaints about the disqualification of candidates opponents.
In his inauguration speech, he defended his decision to dissolve Parliament in 2022 “to preserve the continuity of the State” and so that “not a single drop of blood would be shed.” “The people recovered their revolution, a new constitution was drafted and a referendum was held,” he recalled.
Saied has also left the door open to “reconciliation” for those imprisoned or absconding from justice for corruption or terrorism. “Whoever returns the people’s money in full does not have to remain a prisoner or a fugitive,” he highlighted.
“We will work to preserve national institutions, but after purifying them,” he stressed, also adding that “there is no place for those who disturb the normal functioning” of public services, as reported by the TAP news agency.
The Tunisian president has assured that information will soon be known about “plans” both inside and outside the country that seek to undermine the State, in a possible allusion to new political trials, according to the Kapitalis portal.
On the other hand, the president has highlighted that the main challenges are the fight against terrorism and corruption, while he has also opted for opening new perspectives for the unemployed, especially young people.
The Tunisian president won the elections with 90.69 percent of the votes against the leader of the liberal Azimun party, Ayachi Zamel, who obtained 7.35 percent of the ballots. The opponent was arrested and sentenced to three sentences totaling more than a decade in prison.
Saied has been the focus of criticism from the opposition and activists, especially after assuming all powers in May 2021 after dissolving the Government and Parliament, the latter dominated by the Islamist group Ennahda.
The opposition, mostly united around the National Salvation Front (FSN), has denounced Saied’s actions for more than two years and has demanded his resignation, especially given the wave of arrests of opponents, activists and journalists on corruption charges. or terrorism.
Tunisia, considered one of the few examples of democratic success after the outbreak of the ‘Arab Spring’, has suffered during the last five years a setback in rights and freedoms that has been attributed to the president, which has led its critics to draw parallels with Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who governed the country from 1987 to 2011, and whose long mandate ended precisely with this revolution.
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