Sharjah 24 – AFP: Tunisia's foreign ministry summoned the US charge d'affaires on Friday to denounce "unacceptable" statements by American officials criticising this week's constitutional referendum and the country's political development.

The ministry said in a statement that it had called Natasha Franceschi, currently the top official at the US embassy, to its headquarters over recent remarks by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and American ambassadorial nominee Joey Hood.

In the statement, foreign minister Othman Jerandi slammed the "unacceptable interference in internal national affairs" and expressed "amazement" at the US officials' criticism, which he said did not "at all reflect the reality of the situation in Tunisia".

A few hours earlier, Jerandi had met with President Kais Saied, who expressed his "rejection of any form of interference in the internal affairs of the country".

Saied was referring to statements, mainly from US officials, criticising the recent referendum on a new constitution, which was approved Monday by nearly 95 percent of voters, albeit with a turnout of just 30.5 percent.