Tunisian president replaces prime minister

Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked his prime minister Ahmed Hachani without explanation on Wednesday and replaced him with social affairs minister Kamel Madouri, according to a statement from his office.

Hachani took office on August 1 last year, replacing Najla Bouden, who was also dismissed without an official reason by Saied.

His replacement Madouri had only taken on the social affairs portfolio in May.

In a social media post from his office, Saied is shown shaking hands with Madouri with a brief statement saying only that the president had "decided to assign him to head the government, succeeding Mr. Ahmed Hachani".

Saied, 66, was democratically elected in 2019 but orchestrated a sweeping power grab in 2021 and is now seeking another term in office in elections on October 6.

He submitted his official candidacy for the election on Monday, while some would-be challengers are being barred from running, including through prosecution and imprisonment.

After registering, the incumbent told reporters his candidacy was part of "a war of liberation and self-determination" aiming to "establish a new republic".

As part of Saied's consolidation of power, Tunisia's constitution was rewritten in 2022 to create a presidential regime whose parliament has extremely limited powers.

- Opposition hopefuls blocked -

On Monday, Abir Moussi, a key opposition figure and ex-member of parliament who has been in jail since October, was sentenced to two years in prison under a "false news" law days after she reportedly submitted her candidacy via her lawyers.

Media personality Nizar Chaari was also handed an eight-month sentence Monday night, days after three staffers on his campaign were arrested on suspicion of forging signatures.

Other jailed would-be candidates include Issam Chebbi, leader of the centrist Al Joumhouri party, and Ghazi Chaouchi, head of the social-democratic party Democratic Current, both held for "plotting against the state".

The two are among the more than 20 Saied opponents detained in a flurry of arrests that began in February 2023.

Other would-be candidates -- including Mondher Zenaidi and rapper-turned-businessman Karim Gharbi -- say they have been unofficially barred because authorities refuse to give them a copy of a clean criminal record, which hopefuls are required to submit as part of their election registration.

One of them, retired admiral Kamel Akrout, said authorities declined to furnish his record because the job title on his national ID card was out of date.

"The ruling authority has decided to exclude every opposing voice" and "move towards an undemocratic system", Akrout said.

Last month, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said that since Saied's power grab, "violations that we thought part of Tunisia's past are becoming more and more discernible and systematic".

But Saied on Monday denied his government was stifling critical voices, saying that "whoever talks about restrictions is delusional".