The dismissal comes ahead of Tunisia’s Oct. 6 presidential elections and amid an ongoing crackdown on critics.
Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani and replaced him with the Minister of Social Affairs.
The statement from the president’s office on Wednesday night did not specify why Hachani was removed.
Hachani took office on August 1 last year, replacing Najla Bouden, who was also fired without official reason by Saied.
Just hours before he was fired, Hachani said in a video message that the government had made progress on a range of issues despite global challenges, including securing the country’s food and energy needs.
His replacement, Kamel Madouri, only took over the social affairs portfolio in May.
In a social media post from his office, Saied is shown shaking Madouri’s hand with a brief statement saying only that the president “decided to appoint him to head the government, succeeding Mr. Ahmed Hachani”.
The resignation comes ahead of Tunisia’s Oct. 6 presidential election, in which Saied is seeking another term, and amid widespread discontent over continued water and electricity cuts in many parts of the country.
Although the government attributes these issues to a persistent drought, which leads to the implementation of a water distribution quota system, Saied claims that the water cuts are a conspiracy in the run-up to the presidential elections, insisting that the dams are actually full. .
The Ministry of Agriculture states that the dam level is extremely critical and has reached 25 percent.
A growing repression
Saied was democratically elected in 2019 but orchestrated a sweeping power grab in 2021. He faces criticism from the opposition, rights groups and candidates for restricting and intimidating competitors to pave his way to winning a second term.
Earlier this week, an opposition figure and potential presidential candidate was sentenced to two years in prison.
Lawyer Abir Moussi was arrested last year after criticizing the electoral process and investigated under a controversial cybercrime decree banning fake news. The sentence is the latest in a growing crackdown that observers say is politically motivated against Saied’s critics, regardless of political affiliation.
Moussi appeals to parts of the population who miss Tunisia’s pre-revolutionary era. A critic of politicians such as jailed Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi, Moussi was an official in the ruling party of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Tunisia’s constitution was rewritten in 2022 to create a presidential regime whose parliament has extremely limited powers.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
