The Tunisian presidency reports that three state secretaries and 19 ministries have been replaced in the reorganization.
The foreign and defense ministries have been replaced by Tunisian President Kais Saied, the presidency of that country announced in an undated Facebook posting.
Only a few days after Saied fired the previous prime minister, the reshuffle on Sunday saw the replacement of 19 ministries and three state secretaries.
The message included no other information other than, “This morning, August 25, 2024, the President of the Republic has decided to make a governmental change.”
This action is being taken as the nation in North Africa gets ready for October 6 presidential elections.
The 66-year-old Saied is running for a second term in 2019 as part of what he has described as “a war of liberation and self-determination” with the goal of “establishing a new republic”.
A number of contenders have been imprisoned or prohibited from running as the presidential contest has intensified.
controversial race
Only two candidates were pre-selected to challenge Saied: 59-year-old former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui and Azimoun leader Ayachi Zammel.
According to local media, a court in Tunis, the capital, ordered the treasurer of Zammel’s Azimoun party to be detained pending trial on Wednesday for allegedly “falsifying” signatures.
It’s still unclear how this would impact Zammel’s argument.
Fourteen presidential candidates have been disqualified from running against Saied thus far because, according to the election board of Tunisia, they were unable to gather enough signatures on the ballot.
A number of prospective candidates were found guilty of falsifying these signatures, and a few of them received prison sentences.
A few candidates have also stated that they were not formally allowed to run because the authorities would not provide them with a copy of their clean criminal record, which is a requirement for candidacies.
The presidency declared at the time that Saied had fired prime minister Ahmed Hachani in early August without providing a reason and had appointed social affairs minister Kamel Madouri in his place.
