Amid turmoil, Tunisia names first woman PM
Tunis, September 29
Tunisia’s President on Wednesday named Raoudha Boudent Ramadhane as nation’s first woman Prime Minister, appointing her to lead a transitional government after her predecessor was sacked and Parliament suspended.
President Kais Saied named Ramadhane, a 63-year-old professor at a prestigious engineering school, to the PM’s post in a surprise decision.
The President’s office said in a statement that Saied instructed the new PM to name a new Cabinet as soon as possible.
Tunisia has had no PM and has been in limbo since Saied froze Parliament and seized executive powers on July 25.
The move notably sidelined the Islamist party that dominated Parliament, and critics denounced it as a coup that threatens Tunisia’s young democracy. Saied said it was necessary to save the country from economic and social crisis. — AP
