Tunisia .. The president speaks about a mistake in writing to parliament about the cabinet reshuffle

On Wednesday evening, the private Radio Mosaique quoted sources that Tunisian President Kais Saeed informed Parliament in an official correspondence of a mistake in the date of the session to vote on the ministerial amendment in a letter sent by Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi to the Tunisian presidency.

Ghannouchi had informed, in an official correspondence, that Saeed had recommended 11 new ministers by parliament, and this procedural step (i.e., informing the House of Representatives of the President of the Republic of the results of the vote) is necessary for the President of the Republic to invite the endorsed ministers to take the constitutional oath.

Jamila Alekseksi, a member of the Tunisian House of Representatives (Parliament) office, said that the Speaker of the Parliament wrote to the President of the Republic regarding the swearing-in of the new ministers who were granted his confidence in Parliament at dawn on Wednesday.

Alexiksi added to Al-Jazeera that the presidency has not issued any position so far, although the procedures require that the president summon the new ministers as soon as he receives the Parliament's declaration.

Core issue

It is noteworthy that the Tunisian president said that taking the oath is not a matter of formality and that those suspected of corruption are not accepted.

The House of Representatives had given confidence in the absolute majority of eleven new ministers proposed by Hisham El-Mechichi in the formation of his new government.

Observers fear that the government reshuffle will further fuel the conflict between the prime minister and the president of the republic, who criticized during his chairing the meeting of the National Security Council the ministerial reshuffle, describing it as unconstitutional.

The new amendment made by the Prime Minister removed ministers close to the President of the Republic, such as Minister of Interior Tawfiq Sharaf al-Din - director of the presidential election campaign - in addition to the ministers of culture, justice and health.

The President of the Republic expressed reservations about some of the new ministers under the pretext of their involvement in corruption and conflict of interest issues, warning that there is no room for these to be sworn in before him, which opened a constitutional debate about the legality of this measure and its implications.