Outsider Professor Takes Helm in Troubled Tunisia, Urging Unity
‘Robot Man’ Takes Over a Tunisia Saddled With Economic Woes
(Bloomberg) -- An outsider law professor who secured a landslide win in Tunisia’s presidential vote with the help of disgruntled youth was sworn in Wednesday, urging national unity to overcome deep economic ills.
Kais Saied, who’s 61 and was largely unknown until September, has limited political power under the constitution. But after a parliamentary ballot delivered a hung parliament, he must play an early pivotal role in meeting the expectations of an electorate angered by the failure of mainstream politicians to build a prosperous Tunisia since the 2011 Arab Spring ousted its longtime leader.
In a speech before parliament, Saied vowed to show no tolerance for corruption, stressing the need to restore confidence in government. Tunisia must move from “frustration to construction and work,” he said, calling on people to contribute a day’s work each month for five years to spur a recovery.
Saied, who got more than 70% of ballots in a run-off vote, becomes head of state at a febrile time for the country that’s a democratic beacon in the Arab world. Hopes raised by Tunisia’s revolution have been repeatedly dashed as successive governments succumbed to infighting while failing to revive the economy and tackle key issues like youth unemployment and inflation. Intermittent terrorist attacks damaged the critical tourism industry.
Recent legislative elections delivered another challenge. The moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which won 52 seats in the 217-member parliament, needs to bridge Tunisia’s partisan divides to form a coalition. The secular and populist Heart of Tunisia party, which won the second-largest bloc of seats, has rejected teaming up with Ennahda.
Forging a coalition and pressing ahead with the government’s economic program -- launched in 2016 with the backing of the International Monetary Fund -- is critical for Tunisia.
The discontent “with mainstream parties is indicative of the frustration, particularly among young voters, with continued weakness in Tunisia’s economic prospects after years of hardship and reduced purchasing power,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a report Tuesday.
The agency warned that projections for economic growth of 2.4% in 2020 would fail to deliver the jobs young Tunisians are demanding. Delaying the implementation of the program, which helped Tunisia secure a $2.9 billion IMF loan in 2016, would test the country’s ability to secure affordable funding.
Addressing Tunisian women who may be worried about his conservative leanings, Saied said their rights -- both social and economic -- were enshrined in law.
The expert on the constitution, whose precise speaking style has earned him the nickname “Robot Man,” also demanded that state institutions remain outside politics and said he wouldn’t tolerate any squandering of state funds.
Tunisia’s president generally has the role of elder statesman, with a say in foreign, security and defense policies. If lawmakers fail to agree on a coalition within two months of the finalized results, though, Saied is constitutionally obligated to help decide the next government.
Ennahda has held talks with some of the other major political blocs and is seeking to hold the post of prime minister in any government it forms, according to the president of the party’s Shura council, Abdel Karim Harouni.
He said that party leader Rashid Ghannouchi, who won a parliamentary seat, deserves the role, but wouldn’t comment on whether that was a condition for a deal with other parties.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jihen Laghmari in Cairo at jlaghmari@bloomberg.net;Tarek El-Tablawy in cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Mark Williams
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