Potassiumaïs Saïed annoyed everyone. After the Tunisian president overthrew the government on Sunday, he cleaned up the state apparatus and did not spare entrepreneurs. In the election campaign two years ago, Said recommended himself as a fearless fighter against rampant corruption. Most Tunisians believed that corruption was one of their country’s biggest problems. At a meeting with the employers’ association Utica on Wednesday night, he accused hundreds of entrepreneurs of “looting public funds” and owed the Tunisian government a total of about 4 billion euros. Said mentioned abuse of power and the report of the Corruption Investigation Commission. The President offered to settle out of court settlements to 460 businessmen, provided that they repaid the money to benefit previously neglected areas of the country.
Such an announcement should contribute to its popularity-if the corruption process does start, it is usually a long-term operation. The media can hardly keep up with his activism. He urged traders to lower food prices and put Wataniya, the head of the national television station, in front of the door: Mohamed Dakhchi has two representatives of civil society who are guests on TV shows banned by the studio. The president accused him of wanting to cause trouble.
The protest has subsided
Said also fired military prosecutors. At the same time, he also announced further corruption investigations-even investigations into Tunisian anti-corruption agencies that misappropriated state funds, “truth commissions” that were supposed to deal with past dictatorships, and violations of Tunisian Airlines. Purchase an engine.
A survey by the Emrod Institute found that 87% of Tunisians approve of the president’s decision. 86% were to suspend parliamentary activities, and 84% were to remove Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. Since Sunday, more and more Tunisians look to the future more confidently than a month ago. The last protest on the streets of Tunisia fell silent. Only soldiers patrolled in front of the blocked parliament. According to media reports, in the demonstrations earlier this week, the president supported more than opponents.
At the same time, the Islamic Baath Party withdrew its call for new protest demonstrations and adopted a more conciliatory tone. Initially, Islamists called on people to protect themselves from the president’s “coup”. But this call is largely ignored; abroad, only the Turkish government supports this position. During the demonstrations on Sunday, some of them were violent, and it became clear that Ennahda’s support rate among the people was very low. Several party offices were attacked. Now, Tunisian Islamists are also fighting for a national dialogue, and the International Muslim Brotherhood is campaigning for it.
The president has long targeted the political opponents of the Ennahda, the largest party in parliament. He hopes to continue the corruption investigation initiated by the prosecutor in mid-July, not only against Ennahda, but also against two other parties: “Qalb Tounes” against media entrepreneur Nabil Karoui-the country’s second largest party-and “Aish Tounsi” movement. It is about the suspicion of “accepting foreign funds and accepting funds from unknown sources during the 2019 election period.” The Court of Auditors has dealt with these allegations before. If members of these parties are convicted, they will face huge fines and will not be allowed to run for parliament for five years.
If elections are held early, this will weaken the power of the president’s challengers, which Ennahda and other parties have proposed as a solution to the political crisis. Other organizations hope that the president will at least propose a binding “road map” for his future path, while France urges Said to appoint a new government as soon as possible.
