Tunisia-President Kais Saied: Article 89 must be applied in the formation of the government.

President Kais Saied said Monday “the government formation crisis can be overcome only by referring to the Constitution and not to interpretations of those issuing Fatwas.”

At his meeting Monday at Carthage Place with Speaker of the House of People’s Representatives (HPR), Rached Ghannouchi (President of Ennahdha) and caretaker Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, the Head of State added “unfortunately, the Fatwas issued from time to time are neither innocent nor based on scientific grounds”.

“The people elected me and vested me with this responsibility,” Kais Saied said in a video posted on the official page of the Presidency of the Republic, adding he is relying in his mission on the text of the Constitution and that in the current situation it will be necessary to apply Article 89 of the Constitution.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of a crisis in the government formation. Tunisia has not been affected by such a crisis since independence, Saied pointed out.

Saied’s meeting with Ghannouchi and Chahed also comes at a time when Ennahdha leaders have called for the application of Article 97 of the Constitution to avoid holding new elections.

That outcome was rejected by the President of the Republic, who warned during the meeting of the “seriousness of overriding the Constitution by the Constitution”.

In this context, the Head of State considers that the text of the Constitution is clear and that Article 89 must be applied in the formation of the government.

According to that Article: “If in the four month period following the first designation of a person to form a government, the members of the Assembly of Representatives of the people fail to grant confidence in a government, the President of the Republic may dissolve the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and call for new legislative elections to be held within a minimum of 45 days and a maximum of 90 days.”

During this meeting, the Head of State ruled out the scenario of the application of Article 100 of the Constitution, as he said there is neither resignation nor death.

“In case the government fails to win the confidence of the parliament, the word will return to the people,” he said, calling on all parties to assume their responsibility at this historic and decisive stage.

The President of the Republic also referred to the concept of a caretaker government, based on several comparative experiences, stating that once the new parliament takes office, the government that was in place will become a caretaker government with very limited powers.

“The institutions of the State will continue to function regardless of the outcome of the vote on the new government,” the Head of State assured.