Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed has decided to “terminate the functions” of Prime Minister Najla Bouden, the first woman to lead a government in Tunisia, according to a video and a press release from the presidency, Tuesday evening August 1.

No explanation was given. The president immediately appointed in his place Ahmed Hachani, who until now worked at the Central Bank of Tunisia and studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Tunis where Kaïs Saïed taught. The new head of government, completely unknown to the general public, was immediately sworn in before the head of state, according to the video of the presidency.

Najla Bouden was appointed by Kaïs Saïed on October 11, 2021, just over two months after the president granted himself full powers on July 25, dismissing his then prime minister and freezing Parliament. .

Since this coup, Kaïs Saïed has ruled the country by decree. The Constitution, which he had amended by referendum in the summer of 2022, greatly reduced the powers of Parliament in favor of an ultra-presidentialist system.

A new Assembly of Deputies took office in the spring of 2023 after legislative elections at the end of 2022, boycotted by opposition parties and shunned by voters with a turnout of around 10%.

The previous case of the Minister of Foreign Affairs

On several occasions in recent months, the president has ordered the dismissal of various ministers, including that of foreign affairs, without ever giving reasons.

Since February, around twenty opponents and personalities have been imprisoned as part of a wave of arrests which also affected Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamo-conservative Ennahdha party, Mr. Saïed’s pet peeve. They are “accused of plotting against state security” and Mr. Saïed called them “terrorists”. NGOs, including Amnesty International, denounced an “empty” prosecution case.

Ennahdha dominated coalitions in the decade since the 2011 democratic revolution, culminating in the downfall of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and kicking off Arab Springs across the region.

The political crisis that Tunisia has been going through for two years is coupled with serious economic difficulties: the country is very indebted (at 80% of gross domestic product), sluggish growth (about 2%), poverty on the rise (it affects four million Tunisians out of twelve million inhabitants) and very high unemployment (15% of the active population).