Tunisian President-elect Kais Saied gets sworn in
Tunisia’s elected President Kais Saied got sworn in
on Wednesday at a plenary session in parliament.
Conservative academic Saied won the presidential
election in Tunisia, taking 72.71 percent of votes, the electoral commission
had said in a televised statement in mid-October.
Saied’s opponent Nabil Karoui conceded defeat after
the electoral commission said turnout was 55 percent of the vote.
Saied, a fiercely independent academic aged 61,
advocates a radical decentralization of power, with local democracy and the
ability to remove elected officials during their mandates.
He is seen as strongly conservative on social
issues, and has defended the death penalty, criminalization of homosexuality
and a sexual assault law that punishes unmarried couples who engage in public
displays of affection.
Karoui, a 56-year-old media mogul, has been held in
prison since August 23 under investigation for alleged money laundering.
Karoui has used his popular television channel
Nessma to launch high-profile charity campaigns, often appearing in designer
suits as he criss-crossed the country to meet with some of its poorest
residents before his incarceration.
