Date: Jul 1, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Tunisia asserts no power vacuum despite president’s illness Agence France Presse TUNIS: Tunisian authorities said 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 hospitalization and twin suicide attacks. Essebsi was taken to hospital for a “serious illness” Thursday, the same day that two bombings claimed by Daesh (ISIS) 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 spokesperson Saida Garrach said that Essebsi’s “state of health is improving.” The president had met with the defense minister early on Friday morning and should leave the 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. Meanwhile, 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 al-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 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, which are scheduled for October and November. Tunisia has been hit by repeated Islamist attacks since the 2011 uprising, which started the Arab Spring. Chahed denounced the latest bombings as “cowardly” and meant to “destabilize Tunisians, the economy and democratic transition,” in a nod to the October polls and the tourism season which is in full swing. The blasts - one on the central Habib Bourguiba avenue and another against a security base - killed a police officer and wounded at least eight people including several civilians. The policeman was buried on Friday in Sidi Hassin, a working class district in the capital’s suburbs, where a crowd of mourners came to pay their respects. “He will be quickly forgotten by the authorities and his family will not receive any compensation, not even his salary,” said a fellow policeman. “Even his funeral expenses have been paid” thanks only to donations, the colleague added. Interior ministry spokesperson Sofiene Zaag said Friday that most of the survivors of the attacks were “in a stable condition.” One of the bombers has been identified and a probe is trying to determine if he had any links with an extremist group, he added. Heavy security was deployed Friday around Habib Bourguiba avenue and the nearby interior ministry, while shops that had closed after the bombings reopened for business. “The terrorists want to scare us but we say NO,” Rached Mamlouk, a salesman at a bookshop said, pointing to people walking about and tourist buses parked nearby.   A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on June 29, 2019, on page 7.