Tunisian President Kais Saied on Monday dismissed claims that his actions amounted to a coup and said he assumed an historical responsibility with his decisions, which were constitutional.
“Those who claim that this situation has something to do with a coup should review their law lessons,” Saied said in a video on the presidency’s Facebook account.
On Monday, Saied announced that he had suspended all powers of the Tunisian parliament as well as its deputies’ immunity, dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and said he would assume executive powers with a premier he would appoint. He also declared himself attorney general.
Soldiers barred Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi and his deputies from entering parliament.
Noting that he studied and taught law, Saied said he knows “what a coup is. A coup is to go beyond legitimacy.”
“I applied the constitution,” he said, adding conditions were formed and there were procedural conditions among these conditions.
He added that he called the prime minister and informed him.
“I also phoned the parliament speaker and said that I would apply Article 80,” he said, which permits the suspension of parliament in case of “imminent danger.”
“There is a law in the country, and this law applies to everyone.”
Since January, the country has been in a political deadlock amid a dispute between Saied and Mechichi over a government reshuffle that the former rejected.
The country is also facing an economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus infections amid warnings of a possible collapse of the health care system.
