Najla Bouden should now quickly form a new government, the presidency declared on Wednesday. Bouden is the first woman in Tunisian history to hold the office of head of government. The 59-year-old geology professor has previously worked, among other things, as a consultant in the Ministry of Education. Despite regular announcements that he would soon be filling the post of Prime Minister, Saied took a long time to actually implement it. Recently, however, the pressure on the president had increased to finally clear the way for a new government.
Over the weekend, thousands protested against him in the center of the capital Tunis. The country’s largest union with hundreds of thousands of members also recently warned against Saied’s expansion of his powers. This is a danger to democracy. The USA, too, repeatedly insisted on the formation of a government.
At the end of July, after a month-long power struggle with the government and parliament, the head of state ousted Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended the work of parliament. A week ago he also announced that he would rule by decree and amend articles of the constitution that regulate the responsibilities of the legislative and executive branches. In doing so, he paves the way for the expansion of his own powers.
