Italy Voices Concern over Latest Developments in Tunisia

Italy voiced Tuesday, "concern" about the latest events and developments in Tunisia.

In a press statement, Italian Foreign Minister (FM) Luigi Di Maio expressed confidence that the Tunisian parties would be able to overcome the current political crisis within a democratic framework.

On Sunday evening, Tunisia’s president Kais Saied decided to dismiss the government head and freeze the parliament against the backdrop of mass protests regarding the deterioration of the North African nation’s health, economic and social situation.

Thousands of people defied virus restrictions and scorching heat to demonstrate in the capital of Tunis and other cities. The largely young crowds chanted slogans calling for the dissolution of parliament and early elections.

In a statement, President Saied announced that he would assume executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister, in the biggest challenge yet to a 2014 democratic constitution that split powers between the president, prime minister and parliament.

Years of paralysis, corruption, declining state services, and growing unemployment had already soured many Tunisians on their political system before the global pandemic hammered the economy last year, and COVID-19 infection rates shot up this summer.

Ennahda, banned before the revolution, has been the most consistently successful party since 2011 and a member of successive coalition governments.