Kaïs Saïed extends the state of emergency in Tunisia

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

REUTERS - Zoubeir Souissi

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

Kaïs Saïed, the Tunisian head of state, announced in a brief press release the extension of the state of emergency in Tunisia.

The text specifies that the exceptional measures taken on July 25, under article 80 of the 2014 Constitution, are extended.

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A month ago, the Tunisian presidency had invoked an " 

imminent danger 

" for national security before taking

these exceptional measures

which are extended until further notice.

These exceptional measures include the freezing of the work of the Assembly of People's Representatives, which implies the lifting of the immunity of deputies.

Several of them have since been prosecuted for corruption.

Kaïs Saïed also

dismissed the

Prime Minister from his functions 

and took all the powers for a month.

The wave of popular sympathy enjoyed by the Tunisian president risks, if the crisis continues, to turn against him.

A speech by the president "

in the coming days

"

The statement from the Tunisian presidency is content to specify that the head of state " 

will make a statement to the Tunisian people in the coming days

 ", without further details.

According to several observers, the renewal of the exceptional measures was expected, given the slowness of the decisions and the delay in the appointment of a head of government.

On several occasions, relatives of Kaïs Saïed had announced the imminence of this appointment, which is still late.

As a reminder, this July 25 crisis was the culmination of a clash between the three presidencies in Tunisia, the Prime Minister having been supported by the majority coalition in Parliament dominated by

the Islamist movement Ennahda

whose social and economic policy exasperated the Tunisian street.

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  • Tunisia

  • Kaïs Saïed