Tunisia’s main opposition group urged the government to address growing speculation over President Kais Saied’s health after he failed to make a public appearance in almost two weeks.
(Bloomberg) — Tunisia’s main opposition group urged the government to address growing speculation over President Kais Saied’s health after he failed to make a public appearance in almost two weeks.
The government should consider temporarily assuming executive powers if Saied, 65, is unable to perform his role, the head of the National Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition parties including the moderate Islamist Ennahda long at odds with the president, said Monday.
Because the presidency is “the sole center” of decision-making, the government must “confront public opinion and tell the people if health considerations are forcing the president’s disappearance and what are those health considerations,” Ahmed Nejib Chebbi told reporters in Tunis, the capital.
Presidential spokesman Walid El-Hajjam didn’t respond to requests for comment. Tunisia’s health minister, Ali Mrabet, on Sunday further fueled speculation by walking away when local reporters asked him about the wellbeing of Saied, who last appeared in public on March 22.
Saied’s apparent absence comes at a febrile time for Tunisia, which is mired in economic malaise and trying to secure an International Monetary Fund deal that would need his sign-off and is seen as crucial to avoid defaulting on its debt. The North African country was one of the region’s most progressive democracies until Saied assumed wide-ranging powers and temporarily suspended parliament in 2021, ostensibly to end corruption he said was causing economic strife.
Saied ushered in a more compliant parliament this year as part of his plan to remodel Tunisia’s political landscape. The opposition on Monday warned of a possible “greater disaster” because Saied hasn’t installed the Constitutional Court whose head is supposed to take over from him in the case of a power vacancy until elections are held.
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