‘make good decoration’
Journalist Faïrouz ben Salah, who lives in Tunis and has also written regularly for Dutch newspapers, is skeptical about Bouden’s appointment. According to the publicist, it is likely that Saied chose a woman to propitiate the Western world after his seizure of power. “When the going gets tough, you can win support in Europe if you make a feminist move.”
Ben Salah also points out that the new prime minister has no political or administrative experience and is in fact the third civil servant in a row to be appointed by the president in a short time. “Saied does not seek opposition. He is not really looking for a new government, but for officials who do exactly as he says.”
She continues: “Because there are no more ministers, Saied has worked closely with the civil service in recent months. In recent months, he has met obedient officials and they are now being assigned posts.” The fact that the president announced today that a new cabinet will be formed within a few hours and a maximum of a few days, according to Ben Salah, indicates that he already knows exactly who will be in the government.
More protests expected
She expects the president’s course to lead to more resistance from the population. “The economy is bankrupt and everyone is waiting for economic improvement. It was hoped that Saied would appoint a prime minister who understands economics, but there is no plan. That will probably lead to more protests.”
Instead, the president would like to focus on fighting corruption, as he promised in the election. “But with Saied you quickly become corrupt. He will probably abuse this intention to have more opponents arrested,” journalist Ben Salah expects.
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