In his stubbornness to organize early legislative elections on 17th December next, in accordance with a constitution and an electoral law to his measure and which, above all, completely marginalize the parties, the President of the Republic Kaïs Saïed risks seeing this election boycotted by all the political forces that matter in the country.
In fact, and in addition to the major parties which have all already announced their refusal to take part in what they describe as an electoral charade, some small parties, hitherto in favor of the “corrective process” initiated by the President of the Republic, are beginning to revise their positions and suggest that they too might boycott the next election.
This is particularly the case of the Tunisia forward movement, whose secretary general Abid Briki, declared on Saturday, October 1, 2022, that “there is a fear of confusion in the position of the Independent High Authority for the Elections ( Isie) with regard to the parties, especially in the light of the contradictory declarations of its leaders as to the participation or not of the parties in the electoral campaign, although the Head of State has confirmed that the parties are concerned by the elections .”
Briki said his movement, which is holding an emergency meeting of its Central Council, “could revise its position on the legislative elections scheduled for December 17, 2022, and the hypothesis of a boycott of these elections remains plausible”.
Speaking on the sidelines of his party’s Central Emergency Council, Briki said that this body will decide on the official position of the movement if the parties are excluded from participating in the electoral campaign and if the electoral commission does not announce a clear position. on this subject.
In the same context, Briki called on the Head of State to review several issues, in particular those related to the electoral law, declaring: “The elections are threatened, the confusion in the position vis-à-vis the parties, the electoral law, and sponsorships are problematic, in addition to the explosive social situation, which does not encourage participation.
On the other hand, with regard to the economic situation and the financial crisis in Tunisia, he declared: “We call on the Head of State to go to the Tunisians, not to describe the situation in Tunisia and that all Tunisians know, but to explain the causes, whether national or international and provide Tunisians with the measures and rapid solutions that the stage requires and reassure Tunisians about the present and the future of their country.”
Regarding the elections, Briki said that his movement had decided to support them and present candidates there, adding that this position could be revised “in the light of developments relating to the electoral law, in particular, the way of filling in the form of application where the program, financial resources, and deadlines must be specified”. “What is requested is illogical and absurd, in addition to not being in line with the constitution, which says that the role of parliament is legislative, while candidates are asked to present a program to resolve the economic and social problems of their region”, he also explained.
There is also the question of parity, believes Briki. He explains that the constitution stipulates that the state strives to ensure parity in elected structures, while this point was not included in the electoral law, promulgated on September 15 by presidential decree.
The support of the Tunisia forward movement for the process initiated by July 25 is a position of principle and clearly expressed, but only at the level of the objectives, but “although the path followed since is very far behind in relation to the objectives, the movement always supports it and opposes any backtracking,” Briki insisted, adding, “Anyone who says July 25 is a coup will not accept anything that comes after it, and anyone who says July 25 -July is a necessary step to correct the revolutionary process makes a critical approach to this process in order to move it forward, and we are one of those.”
