Tunisia: Kais Saied shakes up cabinet lineup

Tunisian President Kais Saied conducted Monday a slight cabinet reshuffle with the replacement of two ministers in the wake of an unpopular second round of legislatives.

A statement from his office announced that Ali Boughdiri replaces minister of Education Fathi Selaouti while Abdelmonam Belati takes over the ministry of Agriculture from Mohamed Ilyes.

The office did not provide details why the shakeup took place. It is worth recalling that Saied fired two weeks ago the Minister of Trade.

The move came a day after the country held the second round of the legislative elections. The process was boycotted by voters with turnout put at 11.4 per cent by the independent electoral body ISIE.

The first round held in December also recorded the lowest ever turnout registered in the history of the country, 11 per cent.

The ISIE Saturday said the result of the second round will be released on February 1st while the aggregate results will be made public on March 4.

The National Salvation Front alliance, an assortment of civil society movements and political parties, opposed to Saied’s political decisions since 25 July 2021 the day the President sacked the Prime Minister, froze the parliament, demanded Monday that Saied steps down after the “fiasco” of the second round.

The alliance headed by Ahmed Nejib Chebbi indicated that the rate of abstention is record high, 90 per cent.

“It is a great popular disapproval for the July 25 process which started by the freezing of the Parliament, before monopolizing all powers,” Chebbi said.