{"id":40257,"date":"2019-07-26T14:23:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T14:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40257"},"modified":"2019-07-26T14:23:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T14:23:01","slug":"pompeo-says-hed-go-to-iran-if-needed-as-he-asks-us-allies-to-join-maritime-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40257","title":{"rendered":"Pompeo says he\u2019d go to Iran if needed as he asks US allies to join maritime force"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nTUNIS: Tunisia has less than two months to organize snap elections following the death of president Beji Caid Essebsi, amid uncertainty over who could step forward to run the North African country.<\/p>\n

\nEssebsi, the country\u2019s first head of state elected in nationwide polls, died Thursday at the age of 92, triggering fears of political unrest in a country seen as a rare success story following the Arab Spring uprisings.<\/p>\n

\nNewspapers on Friday paid tribute to \u201cthe father of consensus,\u201d while festivals were canceled and the government declared seven days of mourning.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur pain is great, our sorrow is immense,\u201d read an editorial in French language daily Le Temps.<\/p>\n

\nEssebsi\u2019s body was set to be taken from the military hospital of Tunis on Friday to the presidential palace in nearby Carthage for a private burial.<\/p>\n

\nWithin hours of Essebsi\u2019s death, parliament speaker Mohamed Ennaceur was sworn in as interim president, who under the constitution has 90 days to organize a presidential election.<\/p>\n

\nThe electoral commission said the poll would \u201cprobably\u201d be held on September 15, two months earlier than planned.<\/p>\n

\nForeign governments including that of former colonial power France have hailed Essebsi\u2019s role in Tunisia\u2019s democratic transition, with nearby Algeria and Mauritania declaring three days of mourning.<\/p>\n

\nThe main funeral ceremony is to take place on Saturday in the presence of several foreign heads of state, according to Prime Minister Youssef Chahed.<\/p>\n

\nThe birthplace of the Arab Spring revolts, Tunisia is the only country affected by the uprisings to have pushed through democratic reforms \u2014 despite political unrest, a sluggish economy and extremist attacks.<\/p>\n

\nExtremists have staged repeated deadly attacks since the overthrow of Ben Ali, raising fears for the country\u2019s fragile democracy and throttling its tourism industry.<\/p>\n

\nFollowing Ben Ali\u2019s departure, Essebsi founded the secularist Nidaa Tounes (Call of Tunis) party, which he led to victory at the polls in 2014.<\/p>\n

\nThe party formed a coalition with the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha, which lasted four years before the two parties split.<\/p>\n

\nBut Nidaa Tounes has struggled to overcome bitter internal divisions between premier Chahed and the president\u2019s son, Hafedh Caid Essebsi, leading to the premier being sidelined from Nidaa Tounes and forming his own rival party, Tahia Tounes.<\/p>\n

\nThe president\u2019s death also comes amid a debate over who will be able to run in the next presidential elections.<\/p>\n

\nEssebsi neither rejected nor enacted an amended electoral code passed by parliament in June that would bar the way for several strong candidates including media magnate Nabil Karoui.<\/p>\n

\nKaroui, who has formed a political party, was charged with money laundering this month after he stated his intention to stand.<\/p>\n

\nThe presidential election, along with a parliamentary vote that had been set for October, also comes despite the fact that eight years after the Arab Spring, Tunisia has yet to set up a constitutional court.<\/p>\n

\nDespite the uncertainty, Chahed hailed a \u201cpeaceful transfer of power,\u201d while interim leader Ennaceur vowed that \u201cthe state will continue to function.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe people are pleased to know that their country is a democratic state, not an emirate,\u201d former parliament speaker Adel Bsili wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\nAn editorial in French-language daily La Presse agreed.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTunisians… have passed the test to prove to the entire world that Tunisia is a democratic country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TUNIS: Tunisia has less than two months to organize snap elections following the death of president Beji Caid Essebsi, amid uncertainty over who could step forward to run the North African country. Essebsi, the country\u2019s first head of state elected in nationwide polls, died Thursday at the age of 92, triggering fears of political unrest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}