Tunisian President swears in new education, agriculture ministers

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
31 Jan 21:36

The Tunisian President swears in new education and agriculture ministers after sacking the former ones.

Tunisian President Kais Saied with newly sworn-in ministers Mohamed Ali Boughdiri and Abdelmomen Belati

The state of emergency across the Republic is extended, starting from January 31, 2023, until December 31, 2023, Tunisian authorities announced.

This comes as Tunisian President Kais Saied earlier swore in new education and agriculture ministers on Tuesday, politically sensitive posts in the crisis-hit country that saw record low turnout at weekend elections.

Saied on Monday sacked the former ministers, Fethi Sellaouti and Elyes Hamza respectively, a day after Tunisia's second-round vote for its parliament saw just 11.4% of registered voters take part.

On Tuesday, Saied was seen swearing in the ministerial replacements, Mohamed Ali Boughdiri to education and Abdelmomen Belati to agriculture, in videos posted on the presidency's Facebook page.

Tunisia has faced mounting economic woes in recent months, with repeated strikes by teachers and transportation workers along with shortages of basic goods, including milk, as farmers struggle to pay for fodder.

The parliament, elected in a first-round vote in December along with Sunday's second round, forms part of Saied's redesigned political system that gives extensive powers to the presidency.

The President's political rivals had called for a boycott of the poll to avoid giving it legitimacy.

Saied hit back at critics late Monday, pointing out that the turnout figures "need to be read differently."

"Ninety percent of Tunisians didn't vote because parliament doesn't mean anything to them anymore... they no longer have faith in these institutions," he told Prime Minister Najla Bouden in a video posted on his office's Facebook page.

"The past 10 years made parliament into an institution that harmed the state... it was nothing like the parliament that Tunisians had dreamed of," he added.

In July 2021, Saied froze the legislature, sacked the government, and seized wide-ranging powers, in moves which his critics have considered a "coup".