Saied appears in online video to deny reports that he is seriously ill
Tunisian President Kais Saied has denied rumours that he is seriously ill, saying any suggestion that he might have to step down on health grounds was “completely crazy”.
Rumours that Mr Saied was ill started to circulate last week.
He has not appeared in public since March 22, when he visited Beb Souika in the capital Tunis. On Monday, Tunisian opposition group the National Salvation Front asked Mr Saied to explain his absence from public view.
But after meeting Prime Minister Najla Bouden, the President released a video in which he said it was wrong to say “that there would be a vacancy [in the presidency].”
Earlier on Monday, authorities had refused to comment on the situation.
The National Salvation Front said that if Mr Saied was too unwell to remain in office, talks should be held on how to transfer power.
However, the Tunisian head of state said that co-ordination between him and the head of government had not ceased for the past 11 days and that any allegations to the contrary were “baseless”.
Mr Saied said in a video statement published on the official presidency Facebook page, where he spoke with Ms Bouden, that unnamed parties had fabricated a death certificate and posted it online to support their claims.
He also said that “there is no room for talking about a state of vacancy in the country”, and accused those of promoting such information of seeking to create tension and manufacture a crisis in Tunisia.
“They are trying to fabricate crises, what matters to them is [for Tunisia] to have back-toback crises,” he said.
“They want a state of vacancy in the country. They have really reached levels of insanity that we have not seen before.”
Before Mr Saied’s reappearance, Italian news agency Agenzia Nova reported that the President had suffered a heart attack on Thursday.
The agency said he was expected to resume his official duties today.
The agency said that “European diplomatic sources” confirmed the news. No other specific details were provided.