TUNIS — Tunisian President Kais Saied has announced plans
to form a new government and said the constitution should be amended, weeks
after he sacked his premier and suspended parliament in moves his critics
called a coup.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking to two television
channels after a late Saturday evening stroll in central Tunis, Saied said he
would form a
new government "as soon as possible" after selecting
"the people with the most integrity". But he declined to give a
specific timeline.
Saied also told the television
stations that "the Tunisian people rejected the constitution". He
added that such charters are "not eternal" and stated that "we
can introduce amendments to the text".
His comments, which confirmed
earlier media speculations on his plans, were dismissed by the
Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the largest bloc in parliament.
The party in a statement expressed
"its categorical rejection of the attempts of some parties that are
hostile to the democratic process. ... To push for choices that violate the
rules of the constitution".
Ennahdha added that it would
oppose "an intended suspension of the application of the constitution and a
change to the political system, possibly through a referendum".
The influential UGTT trade union
confederation, which has so far backed Saied, also rejected any
"suspension of the constitution" and called for early legislative
elections so that a new parliament could look into potential constitutional
changes.
Saied, a legal theorist and former
law professor, was elected in 2019 and has billed himself as the ultimate
interpreter of the constitution.
He invoked that power on July 25
to fire the prime minister, freeze parliament and strip MPs of their immunity,
and assume all executive powers.
His power grab came amid chronic
legislative infighting that had crippled governance. It was followed by a
sweeping anti-corruption drive that has included detentions, travel bans and
house arrests of politicians, businessmen and judicial officials.
Saied has yet to appoint a new
government or reveal a roadmap towards normalisation, despite repeated demands
by political parties.
His moves have been criticised by
judges and opponents, in particular Ennahdha.
But some Tunisians, exasperated by
their political class and its perceived corruption, impunity and failure to
improve living standards more than a decade since the country's protests
launched the Arab Spring, see them as a necessary evil.
The chants of "Dignity!"
and "Work!" that filled the air during the revolution have again
started to sound at demonstrations.
In images posted around midnight
on the Tunisian presidency's Facebook page, Saied was seen walking down the
capital's Bourguiba Avenue as a crowd sang the national anthem, before he
stopped to speak with the TV channels.
Earlier that day on the same
central thoroughfare, a man had set himself on fire and later died of his burns
— a desperate act that followed another self-immolation a week before
protesting living conditions
According to Tunisian media
reports, the man who died Saturday was struggling with economic issues and had
come to Tunis from Djerba to seek solutions to his plight.
The death recalls that of the
street vendor who burned himself alive on December 17, 2010 and launched both
Tunisia's popular revolution and the wider Arab Spring that toppled several
autocratic leaders in the region.
Tunisia, hailed as a rare
democratic success story in the Middle East and North Africa, was struggling
with dire economic woes and the Covid-19 pandemic before being plunged into the
latest political crisis.
Saied's comments came a day after
he received in Tunis the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell who expressed
the bloc's concerns over the power grab.
"I communicated to the
president Europe's apprehensions about the preservation of democratic gains in
Tunisia," Borrell said after talks with Saied.
"The free exercise of
legislative power and the resumption of parliamentary activity are part of
these gains and must be respected," he added.
Earlier this month, diplomats from
the
G7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US — called
on Saied to return Tunisia to "a constitutional order".
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