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7 mars 2021 7 07 /03 /mars /2021 18:23

It was President Saied who opened hostilities, by blocking the process for the appointment of eleven new ministers from a reshuffle. He refused to take their oath, on the grounds that some of them -but without saying which - were suspected of having committed acts that could be qualified as conflicts of interest, or even corruption - but without saying which ones. It was an unusual position to be taken by the President, to blacklist individuals thrown as fodder for public opinion by undermining their honor and their standing, without even specifying the criminal acts, while no legal proceedings are in progress, and consequently no court decision has been taken against any of the accused, and without any concern for constitutional legal principles, such as separation of powers and presumption of innocence. Some time later, President Saied added another justification for his refusal to receive the oath, that the appointments were reportedly not in accordance with the constitution -but here again, without saying where the unconstitutionality lies. By preventing 11 ministers from taking office, President Saied has blocked the functioning of the government. Some have talked about a political coup- it does indeed strongly resemble one. President Saied then went off to be applauded by passers-by on Bourguiba Avenue and in the Ariana neighborhoods, thus showing that he had popular support. We understand that the matter is serious and that a risk of confrontation cannot be ruled out, the President of the Assembly of People’s Representatives, Rached Ghannouchi, certainly not being disposed, whereas he heads the first party in the Assembly and a majority that allows it to govern, to give President Saied more power than the constitution confers on him. In a parliamentary system such as it was desired by the constituents of 2014, the head of government appoints the ministers he intends to submit to the vote of the Assembly of People's Representatives. When the latter has validated the choice of the head of government, the president, who does not intervene in this choice, except for the ministries of defense and foreign affairs - which is not the case in this case - receives their appointment oath. This is all very clear. But by refusing the formality of taking the oath, by taking the risk of contravening the constitution, what is the President seeking? If it is - as everything suggests - in order to be able to be consulted on the appointment of ministers and to influence this important act, it would be an unprecedented situation, because why then would it not do the same for the other powers and in particular for the legislative power by taking it over by refusing to promulgate the laws that do not suit him and thus holding the essence of this power. There has been talks of a constitutional coup. We will see how it all unfolds, but it is certain that in the situation we are currently witnessing in Tunisia, perhaps we could have done without such a crisis.

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