The Tunisian Prime Minister, Youssef Chahed, on Friday submitted an application to run for president, making him one of the likely frontrunners in the country’s polls next month.
According to Tunisian news agency, his liberal Tahya Tounes Party unanimously picked him as its candidate in the Sept. 15 elections.
The 43-year-old premier ruled out his resignation over his bid for presidency, adding that there was no legal reason for him to resign.
This, he said, after he presented his application to an independent electoral commission in the capital Tunis.
“He who wants to talk about the government’s resignation wants to delay the election.
“The prime minister’s resignation means the resignation of the whole government.
“The country is fighting terrorism and we are in the tourism season,’’ he said.
Chahed had been in power since 2016 amid economic hardships and militant attacks that had so far harmed Tunisia’s tourism industry, a key source of the national income.
Chahed is one of more than 50 presidential hopefuls, who have reportedly applied to run for president.
The presidential hopefuls include: former Defence Minister, Abdelkarim Zibid; Abdelfattah Morou of the influential moderate Islamist Ennahda movement; ex-interim president, Moncef Marzouki, and ex-Prime Minister, Mehdi Jomaa.
However, the Electoral Commission was expected to announce the eligible contenders in August.
On July 25, Tunisia’s first democratically elected President, Beji Caid Essebsi died five months before the end of his term.
As a result, the country’s presidential election, originally scheduled for Nov. 17, was pushed forward to Sept. 15, due to his death.
Essebsi was elected president in December 2014 and subsequently steered Tunisia through its democratic transition in the wake of the 2011 revolt that toppled long-time autocrat Zine-Ben Ali.
The North African country was widely seen as the sole democratic success story of the 2010-11 Arab spring revolts but had struggled with an economic slowdown and social unrest.
