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July 28, 2021

People support Tunisian president, says archbishop

Kaïs Saïed late Sunday night sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament amid nationwide protests over the country's economic and health problems
People support Tunisian president, says archbishop

Supporters of Tunisia's president gather on the streets after he dismissed the government and froze parliament, in Tunis, Tunisia, 25 July 2021. (Photo by STR/EPA/Newscom/MaxPPP)

Majority of the people in Tunisia have welcomed the president suspending the legislature and assuming all powers, says Archbishop Ilario Antoniazzi of Tunis.

Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed late Sunday night sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament amid nationwide protests over the country's economic problems and the government's handling of the coronavirus health crisis.

The president, a jurist who had participated in the drafting of the new Constitution following protests that ignited the Arab Spring in 2011 and the overthrow of Tunisia's longtime autocratic leader, maintains he acted legally.

He invoked an article in Tunisia's Constitution that allows him to assume executive power and suspend parliament in case of "imminent danger threatening the institutions of the nation and the independence of the country and hindering the regular functioning of the public powers."

This decision was "welcomed with relief by the majority of the population, exhausted by a situation that seemed to have no way out", Archbishop Antoniazzi told Fides.

However, now "the euphoria seems to have passed, there is a state of waiting for the further decisions that the President will take. But in this wait, trust and hope still prevail", he said.

Explaining the situation in the country, the archbishop noted that people were fed up with what was going on in the country and with their lawmakers.

"We have reached a point where there is no work, tourism is zero, the only thing that seems to be going strong are the infections due to COVID-19," Archbishop Antoniazzi said.

"It is sad to say, but this is the situation: hospitals are full, there is lack of oxygen, we are close to disaster," he added.

More than 18,000 people in the country of 12 million have already died of the coronavirus.

"The population initially placed their trust in the government, but then, in the face of government immobility, the opening of credit soon faded away. The ministers were accused of corruption, and of defending their private interests," Archbishop Antoniazzi said.

After the president suspended the government, people celebrated with shouts of joy, honking of horns and waving Tunisian flags and "went out on the street in celebration despite the curfew," he said.

Now Saïed has announced his intention to appoint a new prime minister and government.

"Even all the old parties, including those in power, have said they support him", Archbishop Antoniazzi said.

Nonetheless there is opposition from the left leaning Workers' Party which accused the president of wanting to bring the country "under the dictatorship of one man" and from the Islamist Party Ennahda, whose leader criticized the president for "fomenting a coup."

"But the majority of the population is now with the president, and the army also supports him, which has surrounded the institutional offices and prevented them from being besieged by the militants of Ennahda", Archbishop Antoniazzi said.

"The unknown is that there may be a restriction of freedoms and that we are moving towards an authoritarian regime. Some TV stations have been closed. But of course for now the population is on the President's side. Let's see how things go. He promised directives, changes. Things he will certainly do, but he still has to do", said Archbishop Antoniazzi.

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