Public law professor and former chairman of the Independent Higher Election Authority, Chafik Sarsar, related that prime minister Hichem Mechichi’s decision to remove five ministers was “logical, expected, but unfortunate.” From a rigidly legal point of view, this decision appears valid, however normally the interim role is performed under specific conditions. Youssef Chahed and Elyes Fakhfakh had resorted to the same method which ended up ruining their respective governments, he revealed.
Ministers, already struggling to maintain a single department, if we add an extra one, they will shift into a sort of “paper signing agent”. In this chess game where everyone is focused on the fate of the game, we finished by omitting that of a country and a people who are suffering, he lamented, specifying that even in case the Parliament would vote a motion of censure against Mechichi, it is the latter who will be accountable for creating the new government.
Reflecting on the likelihood that Hichem Mechichi could make the proposed ministers “ministerial advisers” (the interim ministers would only be used to sign the papers), Chafik Sarsar stated this would amount to avoiding the problem and drifting further away from the spirit and values of the constitution.