Tunisian President Kais Saied affirmed to United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken his keenness to respect legitimacy, rights and freedoms, according to Tunisian Mosaïque FM.
On his part, the US Secretary of State expressed his country's continued involvement in developing its partnership relations with Tunisia in several fields, and in promoting common values and principles related to the defense of human rights and democracy.
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.
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