In the news: in Tunisia, Kaïs Saïed hyperactive and (visibly) popular

Audio 04:19

Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, in October 2019, during his swearing in, in Tunis.

REUTERS - Zoubeir Souissi

By: Sébastien Duhamel Follow

14 mins

Publicity

Kaïs Saïed calls on traders and wholesalers to lower the price of food products

 ."

You can read it on the

Réalités

magazine website 

Kaïs Saïed chairs a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces

 ", to read in

La Presse de Tunisie

. The country's

main French-language daily

also tells us that " 

the head of state has decided to dismiss the CEO of national television

 ". Decision that comes after two representatives of civil society, guests of a national television program, were banned from entering the studios. The same head of state, who gave a speech this Wednesday, July 28. Yes, the Tunisian press is showing us a hyperactive president this morning. And popular, as a widely reported poll would attest. Poll commissioned by

Business News

 and 

Attessia

media 

, led by Ehmrod Consulting, it tells us that " 

87% of Tunisians claim to approve the decisions of the President of the Republic

 ".

As for the details of the measures, 86% of Tunisians say they are in favor of freezing the activities of Parliament, and 84% of them “ 

applaud

 ” the dismissal of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi,

Business News

still tells us 

.

Hichem Mechici subject to pressure?

The very serious 

Business News

 again, relays an equally serious revelation from 

Middle East Eye

, a pan-Arab media based in London. He bluntly asserts that " 

Outgoing Prime Minister Hichem was physically attacked at the presidential palace on Sunday evening before agreeing to resign from his post

 ." The 

Middle East Eye

 quotes sources close to the Prime Minister here. Obviously, impossible to verify in the state but 

Business News

 recalls " 

the Middle East Eye is already the media which revealed a document last May, evoking" a constitutional coup d'etat through the activation of article 80 " of the constitution.

"

After that,

"

the justice had opened an investigation on this subject

 "

,

underlines

 Business News,

which notes finally that

 "

the global approach of the document and several details appearing there

"

were finally

"

applied by the President of the Republic

 ".

Rejection of the term " 

coup

 "

What happened last Sunday

," writes 

Webdo

, " 

could have been qualified as a coup d'état if Kais Saied had been appointed president by Parliament, as Moncef Marzouki did [...], but let us not forget that Kais Saied is elected (and well elected) by universal suffrage and that this gives him indisputable legitimacy

 , ”

 Webdo

analyzes

.

“ 

Kais Saied is not only the President of the Republic but also the Head of State. And indeed, many Tunisians have been worried for several years about the progressive disintegration of the State,

 ”the website still estimates.

At 

Tunisie Numérique

, an academic prefers to speak of a “ 

constitutional coup

 ”, but he wonders what to do next. “ 

There is no need to enter into the lively controversy between constitutionalists, political scientists and other opinion leaders around the legality, the legality, of this political initiative; this debate already belongs to history and historians

 ”, we read. What, on the other hand, “ 

deserves attention and positioning

 ” for

 Tunisie Numérique

is undoubtedly “ 

the immediate and future consequences of this precedent in the complex process of building a genuinely democratic and social Republic

 ”. The author insists here on the word " 

social

 ”, which is“ 

fundamental and unavoidable

 ”according to him.

The fate of Teodorin Obiang

Teodorin Obiang definitively condemned in France, in the case of ill-gotten gains

 ", reports 

Net Afrique

.

The vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, recalls the site, was sentenced by the Paris Court of Appeal in February 2020 to three years in prison, a 30 million euros fine and the confiscation of all his seized property. for " 

laundering of misuse of corporate assets, embezzlement of public funds and breach of trust

 " between 1997 and 2011. And yesterday,

Theodorin Obiang saw his appeal rejected by the French Court of Cassation

.

A Court of Cassation which " 

completes

 " Teodorin Obiang, writes

Walf

in Senegal. The daily recalls that in the United States too, Teodorin Obiang is " 

in the crosshairs of justice

 ". There, he " 

had agreed to give up $ 30 million in assets to keep his other assets in the country

 ." France will now auction its goods and donate funds for development projects in Equatorial Guinea, explains 

Walf

. And the newspaper hopes it will create a case law " 

to combat the looting of public funds and corruption, especially in Africa

 ." He only hopes " 

that this money, once returned to its source, will not [be], once again, transformed into ill-gotten gains by other people

 ”.

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  • Newspaper

  • Tunisia

  • Kaïs Saïed

  • Teodoro Obiang Nguema

  • Equatorial Guinea