Tunisia says no ‘power vacuum’ despite president’s illness

TUNIS: Tunisian authorities said on Friday President Beji Caid Essebsi’s condition was improving and insisted there was no power vacuum in the North African country, shaken by the 92-year-old leader’s hospitalisation and twin suicide attacks.

Essebsi was taken to hospital for a "serious illness" on Thursday, the same day that bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed a police officer in Tunis and wounded several other people.

Officials sought to calm fears among Tunisians that the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings would descend into new violence and political instability. "We have a president. There is no constitutional vacancy," one of Essebsi’s key advisers, Noureddine Ben Ticha, told the Express FM radio station.

Presidential spokeswoman Saida Garrach said that Essebsi’s "state of health is improving". The president had met with the defence minister early on Friday morning and should leave hospital "soon", she told state radio, without giving further details.

On Thursday several media outlets had reported Essebsi’s death after the presidency announced that one of the world’s oldest heads of state -- behind only Britain’s 93-year-old Queen Elizabeth II -- was taken to hospital. But those claims were denied by the authorities.

Key adviser Firas Guefrech described the president as in a "critical" but "stable" condition while the leader’s son Hafedh Caid Essebsi spoke of "the beginnings of an improvement" in his father’s condition.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed visited the ailing president and said he was receiving "the necessary care", warning people not to spread "false and confusing information". On the streets of Tunis the mood was hopeful but cautious.

"I hope he will return to the presidential palace in good health quickly because his absence in such difficult times will plunge the country into chaos," said Ibrahim Chaouachi, 40, echoing many of his compatriots.

Tunisia’s constitution, adopted three years after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, provides two measures in the case of a power vacuum.

The prime minister can take over the president’s responsibilities for a period of no more than 60 days, or if the vacancy is longer the speaker of parliament is tasked with the role for up to 90 days.

In both cases the decision must be taken by a constitutional court after it validates the president’s incapacity. But eight years after the Arab Spring, Tunisia has yet to set up a constitutional court.

On Thursday parliament speaker Mohammed Ennaceur, 85, met the heads of parties following the twin suicide bombings and Essebsi’s illness. The country’s first democratically elected president, Essebsi came to power in 2014.

His prolonged absence from the public eye could spell uncertainty for Tunisia, where democracy remains fragile especially ahead of presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for October and November. Tunisia has been hit by repeated Islamist attacks since the 2011 uprising. Chahed denounced the latest bombings as "cowardly" and meant to "destabilise Tunisians, the economy and democratic transition", in a nod to the October polls and the tourism season which is in full swing.