Tunisian president says decree ready to hold legislative elections

By Adel Al-Thabti

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) – Tunisian President Kais Saied said Thursday a decree is ready to call voters to legislative elections on Dec. 17.

“A draft decree to hold elections on Dec. 17 is ready,” Saied said during a Cabinet meeting held in the capital Tunis.

“Personal voting does not involve exclusion of anyone,” Saied said. “There will be no exclusion of anyone when they meet the objective conditions stipulated in the electoral law.”

Tunisia has been in the throes of a severe political crisis since July 25, 2021, when Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament. He later dissolved the assembly.

While opponents see Saied’s measures as a “coup against the constitution," others view them a "correction of the course of the 2011 revolution," which overthrew then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Saied, who in 2019 started a five-year presidential term, considers his measures necessary to "save the country from imminent danger."

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report