New Tunisian president denies 'Arab Spring' tweet

By Adel Al-Thabiti

TUNIS (AA) – A Tunisian source has denied a tweet linking newly-elected President Kais Saied to the Arab Spring revolutions.

Local media said Monday that Saied has described himself in a tweet as a "son of the Arab Spring".

"We – the sons of the Arab Spring -- will always believe that both freedom and democracy are the people's hope and their sole path to progress and prosperity, while dictatorships and military coups are the way to ignorance, backwardness and destruction," the alleged tweet said.

But a source close to his election campaign denied that Saied had made the tweet.

"Kais Saied has no Twitter account," the source told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring revolutions that swept the leaders of several Arab countries from power in 2011.

A former law professor, Saied was declared the winner of Tunisia's presidential election after defeating his rival, media tycoon Nabil Karoui in an election runoff on Sunday.

Saied will replace Tunisia's first freely elected President Beji Caid Essebsi, who died last July.

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara