<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Tunisian President Kais Saied has dismissed Prime Minister Najla Bouden, the first woman to lead a government in the North African country, according to a video from the presidency on Tuesday evening.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No explanation was given.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Saied immediately appointed in her place Ahmed Hachani, who until now worked at the Tunisian central bank and studied law at the University of Tunis, where Saied taught, according to Hachani's Facebook profile.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new head of government, a figure unknown to the general public, was immediately sworn in before the president, according to the presidency video.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bouden was appointed by Saied on October 11, 2021, two and a half months after the president granted himself sweeping powers on July 25 by dismissing his then-prime minister and suspending parliament.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since his power grab, Saied has ruled by decree.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The constitution, which he had amended by referendum in the summer of 2022, greatly reduced the powers of parliament and granted the president's office unlimited powers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A new assembly took office in the spring of 2023 following legislative elections at the end of 2022, which were boycotted by the opposition parties and shunned by voters with a turnout rate of around 10 percent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On several occasions in recent months, the president has ordered the dismissal of various ministers, including the foreign minister, without giving a reason.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since last February, about 20 opposition, media and business figures have been imprisoned in a wave of arrests that also affected Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party and one of the president's highest-profile critics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are accused of "plotting against state security" and Saied has called them "terrorists".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amnesty International has labelled the roundup a "politically motivated witch hunt".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ennahdha dominated coalitions in the decade since the 2011 democratic revolution that culminated in the downfall of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and kicked off the Arab Spring uprisings across the region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The political crisis Tunisia has been going through for two years is compounded by serious economic difficulties.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The country is heavily indebted, at 80 percent of GDP, while growth is a sluggish two percent, added to which poverty levels are rising and unemployment is very high at 15 percent. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>