Tunisia president names new interior minister after sacking PM, parliament

Tunisian President Kais Saied has appointed a new interior minister days after seizing control of the government and freezing the parliament, pledging to protect civil rights and respect freedoms.

According to reports, Saied appointed former national security adviser Ridha Garsalaoui on Thursday to run the country’s Interior Ministry and also vowed to implement the constitution and safeguard people’s rights and freedoms.

"I tell you and the whole world that I am keen to implement the constitutional text and keen more than them on rights and freedoms," Saied said. "No one has been arrested. No one has been deprived of his rights, but the law is fully applied.”

The development comes as the North African country is awaiting the appointment of a new prime minister and the announcement of a plan to find a way out of the political and economic crisis.

Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring protests a decade ago, was thrust into a constitutional crisis on Sunday after Saied sacked Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended the country’s parliament for 30 days.

Saied said he would be running the country’s executive affairs in cooperation with a premier of his own choosing in the wake of violent protests across the North African nation over the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the country's ailing economy.

Saied’s opponents and detractors labeled the decision as “a coup d’etat” against the 2011 revolution that ousted former Western-backed ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, as well as against the country's constitution, calling for street protests in denunciation of the move. 

He has imposed a night curfew for a month after clashes between the supporters and opponents of his dismissals left several people injured.

Years of paralysis, corruption, declining state services and growing unemployment had agitated many Tunisians on their political system before the COVID-19 pandemic smashed the economy last year and infection rates surged this summer.

The Tunisian president and parliament were both elected in separate popular votes in 2019 while the prime minister took office last summer, with Saied swearing to overhaul a complex political system plagued by corruption.

SS