Amid massive protests, Tunisian President Kais Said announced the resignation of Prime Minister Hisham Mashishi.

The head of state himself will temporarily fulfill his duties. 

In a televised address to citizens on the night of July 26, Said also announced a 30-day freeze on the Assembly of People's Representatives, the country's unicameral parliament.

By order of the president, all deputies were deprived of criminal immunity and the right to travel abroad.

The restrictions also affected Speaker Rashid al-Ghannushi, who heads the largest party in Tunisia, An-Nahda (Revival Movement), which adheres to the ideas of moderate Islam.

“We made these decisions and we will make new ones - in the form of decrees provided for by the constitution, until public consent returns to Tunisia and until we save the state,” Said said.

Later, the office of the head of state reported that the president had dismissed the head of the Ministry of Defense and the Minister of Justice.

"There is no margin of safety"

According to the Al Mayadeen TV channel, troops were sent to the capital of Tunisia.

The servicemen took up positions in the city center - in particular, near the parliament building and the headquarters of the country's national television company.

Al-Ghannushi called the president's actions a coup d'état.

He urged parliamentarians to continue their work, and the army and citizens to oppose Qais Said.

Meanwhile, according to the Al Arabiya TV channel, the protests that swept across Tunisia were directed against An-Nahda.

The protesters attacked the party's offices in Tauzar, Kairouan and Sousse, at the same time entering into confrontation with law enforcement officers.

They demanded early parliamentary elections, blaming An-Nahdu for the country's problems.

As the professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, orientalist Alexander Vavilov recalled in an interview with RT, in Tunisia at the moment there is a difficult situation in the socio-economic sphere and the health care system, there is rampant corruption.

All this, according to Vavilov, prompted citizens to take to the streets.

“Tunisia is a country heavily dependent on tourism revenues, which are at their lowest for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.

In addition, Tunisians themselves suffer from the coronavirus.

The healthcare system simply cannot withstand such a load, ”Vavilov said.

The sharp rise in the incidence of COVID-19 in Tunisia began last month when the more aggressive Delta strain was discovered in the country.

According to WHO, the Arab Republic entered the top three countries in North Africa in terms of the number of people infected with coronavirus and ranked first in mortality.

The former head of government was also among the recently ill.

Shortly before the start of the protests, Hisham Mashishi fired Health Minister Fawzi Mehdi, whose duties were temporarily entrusted to the Minister of Social Affairs Mohammad Trabelsi.

Mashishi did not disclose the reason for the resignation, but according to Mosaique FM, Mehdi was removed from office due to the failure of a campaign to mass vaccinate citizens over 18 years of age.

In particular, the Minister of Health approved only two days when an injection can be given, which led to the formation of queues at vaccination points. 

  • Tunisian covid patient ward

  • AFP

  • © FETHI BELAID

Vasily Kuznetsov, head of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also names the coronavirus pandemic as one of the reasons for the acute socio-political crisis in Tunisia. 

“It is wrong to give any one interpretation of what is happening in Tunisia.

But it is obvious that first of all it is a pandemic and its severe socio-economic consequences.

The Tunisian state did not cope with these challenges and made a lot of mistakes, "Kuznetsov said in an interview with RT.

Alexander Vavilov, for his part, notes that the Tunisian protesters first of all demand an improvement in living standards and more effective measures to combat the pandemic.

However, the republic's authorities now do not have the resources to solve these problems, the expert says.

As noted by Reuters, in the current circumstances, it is critically important for the Tunisian authorities to obtain a loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Back in January, the leadership of the Arab Republic sent a request to the IMF to finance a campaign to vaccinate the population.

The current political crisis may lead to a breakdown in negotiations with the fund, writes Reuters.

Prior to the outbreak of protests, Tunisia tried unsuccessfully to obtain financial tranches from Qatar and Libya.

However, Tunisia has become a recipient of foreign humanitarian aid.

Algeria, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are now helping Tunisia.

So, according to the Algeria Press Service, in mid-July, Algeria delivered 250 thousand doses of COVID-19 vaccines and 20 tons of medicines to the neighboring republic.

In an interview with RT, orientalist Said Gafurov noted Tunisia's huge dependence on external financial and humanitarian assistance.

In his opinion, the pandemic turned into a real economic disaster for the Arab country and a deep drop in living standards, which provoked popular discontent.

“The Tunisian economy has no margin of safety.

Tourism has collapsed, and the country's leadership, including the president, in my opinion, did not take sufficient measures to stabilize the situation.

And the main reason for this, apparently, was corruption: the population did not feel that the money that the authorities had borrowed during the pandemic, ”says Gafurov.

Experience of revolutions

Experts believe that the situation in Tunisia is further complicated by the absence of a functioning Constitutional Court: due to disputes between political forces, the composition of this body was not approved, although the basic law of the state has been in effect for more than seven years.

In this regard, it is impossible to give a legal assessment of the ongoing events, says Said Gafurov.

The President of Tunisia bases his actions on the provisions of Article 80 of the Constitution.

However, Rashid al-Ghannushi is sure that Qais Said is violating the basic law of the state.

“The current legal situation in Tunisia is difficult to describe in any way.

There are accusations of a coup d'etat, but only the Constitutional Court is authorized to resolve such issues in an amicable way, ”Gafurov explained.

  • President of Tunisia Kais Said

  • Reuters

  • © Zoubeir Souissi

However, he did not rule out that protest activity in Tunisia will continue to grow.

According to him, the citizens of the North African republic can be inspired by the experience of the revolutionary events of 2010-2011, when the cabinet of ministers of Mohammad Ghannushi was first dismissed, and then President Zine al-Abidine bin Ali left the country.

“Then people felt that they could change the government with their own hands.

This experience plays against the entire ruling elite of Tunisia.

Only large-scale external aid, including food aid, can save the authorities from the growth of protests and the escalation of violence.

It is not yet clear whether she will do so, ”says Gafurov.

According to his forecast, the current difficult socio-economic situation may well provoke a civil conflict in Tunisia and lead to the intervention of external forces, including the troops of the Libyan Government of National Accord (PNS).

In turn, Alexander Vavilov believes that the noticeably aggravated situation in Tunisia should draw the attention of the Middle East states and the EU to the country's problems in the economy and healthcare.

“It will be difficult to clean up this crisis and get out of it.

Tunisia's neighbors and Europeans understand this.

I think that the country will soon be helped to overcome the difficulties associated with finances and the pandemic, ”says Vavilov.

According to Vasily Kuznetsov,

the fundamental cause of the problems facing Tunisia is the economic crisis that has been going on since the 2011 revolution.

“In fact, the structural crisis caused by the internal dynamics of economic development has not ended in Tunisia.

According to Tunisian experts, the exit from it can be expected only by the mid-2020s.

The country needs deep unpopular reforms, but the trade unions, which are quite strong in the republic, are categorically opposed to them, "Kuznetsov said.

  • Protesters in the streets of the capital Tunisia

  • Reuters

  • © Zoubeir Souissi

In addition, the aggravation of the situation in Tunisia was provoked by the confrontation between the president and parliament, the expert believes.

According to Kuznetsov, Kais Said seeks to expand the powers of the head of state and therefore can take advantage of the current crisis for his own purposes.

“It is difficult to assess public sentiment in Tunisia.

Citizens who take to the streets are in favor of the president.

However, al-Ghannushi also has impressive support, and he is able to bring hundreds of thousands of people to rallies, "Kuznetsov summed up.