Tunisia MPs defy Saied, convene frozen assembly
Tunis, Tunisia – AFP
More than 100 members of Tunisia’s suspended parliament defied President Kais Saied on Wednesday, holding an online session in which they voted to roll back his July power grab.
Saied — elected in 2019 on public anger against the political class — on July 25 last year sacked the government, froze the assembly and seized wide-ranging powers in a blow to democracy in the birthplace of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Arguing that the constitution allowed him to take “exceptional measures”, in September he extended the suspension of parliament and gave himself a mandate to rule and issue new laws by decree.
The parliament building in Tunis remains closed off by security forces, but 120 out of the assembly’s 217 members attended Wednesday’s virtual session.
Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, did not take part.
The session was headed by deputy speaker Tarek Fetiti, an independent MP.
A bill was passed by 116 of those present, cancelling Saied’s “exceptional measures”, which the assembly said blocked the democratic process and threatened to reinstall an autocratic system.
The MPs also called for legislative and presidential elections and a national dialogue to break the political stalemate.
“We are not frozen or suspended MPs… but we are under the power of a new Pharaoh,” said independent and former presidential candidate Safi Said.
Saied condemned as “illegal” meetings of Tunisia’s parliament, saying those responsible for the virtual sessions were trying to sow chaos.
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