Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the Tunisian Parliament, rejected the dissolution of the Assembly decided by President Kais Saied.
Tunisian parliament leader Rached Ghannouchi on Thursday rejected President Kais Saied’s decision to dissolve the assembly, saying it would continue its activities.
“We consider that the Parliament remains inactivity”, declared Mr. Ghannouchi, in an interview with AFP. “Constitutionally, the president has no right to dissolve it.”
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On Wednesday, President Saied decided to dissolve Parliament, eight months after suspending it to assume full powers in July 2021.
“This decision is null and void and contrary to the Constitution. It is a continuation of the decisions taken since July 25 which we have rejected and considered a coup d’etat,” added Mr. Ghannouchi, also the leader of the Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, the main parliamentary force and a pet peeve of President Saied.
New authoritarian drift, according to its detractors
After suspending parliament and dismissing the government in July, Mr. Saied in February dissolved the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), a measure described as a new authoritarian drift by his critics and which raised concerns for the independence of Justice.
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He then unveiled a roadmap to pull the country out of the crisis with elections scheduled for December and a referendum on constitutional amendments in July, but an online popular consultation he launched to collect proposals was widely been shunned by the Tunisians.
Besides the political stalemate, Tunisia is struggling in a deep socio-economic crisis and discussing with the International Monetary Fund to obtain a new loan.
