The dismissal comes forward of Tunisia’s October 6 presidential election and amid an ongoing crackdown on critics.
Tunisian President Kais Saied has dismissed Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani and changed him with the Minister of Social Affairs.
The assertion from the president’s workplace issued late on Wednesday didn’t specify why Hachani was eliminated.
Hachani had taken up the submit on August 1 final 12 months, changing Najla Bouden, who was additionally dismissed with out official motive by Saied.
Hours earlier than he was fired, Hachani stated in a video message that the federal government had made progress on a spread of points regardless of international challenges, together with assembly the nation’s meals and vitality wants.
His successor, Kamel Madouri, solely took over the social affairs portfolio in Might.
In a social media submit from his workplace, Saied is proven shaking Madouri’s hand with a quick assertion saying solely that the president had “determined to assign him to guide the federal government, succeeding Mr. Ahmed Hachani.”
The dismissal comes forward of Tunisia’s October 6 presidential election, through which Saied is looking for a brand new time period, and amid widespread discontent over continued water and electrical energy cuts in lots of elements of the nation.
Though the federal government blames these issues on a persistent drought, which led to the implementation of a water distribution quota system, Saied claims the water cuts are a conspiracy within the run-up to the presidential election, insisting that the dams are literally full.
The Agriculture Ministry says the dam stage is extraordinarily crucial and has reached 25 %.
A rising repression
Saied was democratically elected in 2019 however orchestrated a sweeping energy seize in 2021. He faces criticism from the opposition, human rights teams and candidates for proscribing and intimidating rivals to pave the way in which for him to win a second time period.
Earlier this week, an opposition politician and potential presidential candidate was sentenced to 2 years in jail.
Lawyer Abir Moussi was arrested final 12 months after criticising the electoral course of and is being investigated underneath a controversial cybercrime decree banning pretend information. The sentence is the newest in a rising marketing campaign that observers say is politically motivated towards Saied’s critics, no matter their political affiliation.
Moussi is interesting to sections of the inhabitants who’re nostalgic for Tunisia’s pre-revolutionary period. A critic of politicians resembling jailed Ennahdha chief Rached Ghannouchi, Moussi was a long-time official in President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s ruling celebration.
Tunisia’s structure was rewritten in 2022 to create a presidential regime whose parliament has extraordinarily restricted powers.
