Tunisian Prime Minister, Youssef Chahed, has announced that he will temporarily delegate his powers to the country’s Public Service Minister, Kamal Morjane, in order to focus on his candidacy for the presidency and to “ensure equal opportunities for all candidates.”

Why Is He Stepping Aside?

In a speech delivered last Thursday, Prime Minister Chahed said: “In order to ensure the transparency of the presidential election and the equal opportunities between all candidates, I am temporarily delegating my powers until the end of the campaign for the Minister of Public Service, Kamal Morjane.”

Who is Prime Minister Chahed Up Against?

The Prime Minister will be competing for the presidential seat alongside strong opposition figures like the current Minister of National Defence, Abdelkarim Zbidi, the Vice President of the Ennahda Islamist party, Abdel Fattah Mourou and former Prime Minister of Tunisia Mehdi Jomaa. Former Tunisian PresidentsMoncef Marzouki and Nabil Karoui, a businessman and owner of the private channel Nessma TV, will also be running for office.  However, it appears Chahed, Mourou and Zbidi are the frontrunners.

Tunisia’s Ruling System

Tunisia runs a unitary, semi-presidential system of government, in which the president is the Head of State and controls foreign and defence policy. The President is elected for a five-year term. After which he nominates the candidate of the party which gained the most votes to form a government within a month. He governs alongside a Prime Minister who is the head of government and has authority over domestic affairs. The Prime Minister is chosen by the Parliament and is responsible for the legislature of the state.

The election, which is set to hold on September 15, follows the death of 92-year-old Beji Caid Essebsi, the first president to be democratically elected in Tunisia after the popular uprising of 2011.

The Tunisian election campaign is expected to run from the 1st to 13th of September.