'Tunisia president replaces key ministers in sweeping reshuffle'

TUNIS — Tunisian President Kais Saied on Sunday replaced various ministers, including from the foreign and defence portfolios, the Tunisian presidency said in a statement posted on Facebook without explanation.

The abrupt reshuffle replaced 19 ministers and three state secretaries, just days after Saied sacked the former prime minister.

"This morning, August 25, 2024, the President of the Republic has decided to make a governmental change," said the statement, without further detail.

The move comes as the North African country readies for presidential elections on October 6.

Saied, 66, was democratically elected in 2019 but orchestrated a sweeping power grab in 2021.

He is now seeking a second presidential term as part of what he has said was "a war of liberation and self-determination" aiming to "establish a new republic".

Other jailed would-be candidates include Issam Chebbi, leader of the centrist Al Joumhouri Party, and Ghazi Chaouchi, former head of the social-democratic party Democratic Current, both held for "plotting against the state".