Eight months after suspending him to assume full powers in July 2021, Tunisian President Kais Saied announced the dissolution of Parliament on Wednesday, during a meeting of the “National Security Council”. “I am announcing today at this historic moment the dissolution of the Assembly of People’s Representatives to preserve the state and its institutions and to preserve the Tunisian people,” Kais Saied said in a video released by the presidency. Deputies had a few hours earlier braved the suspension of Parliament, organizing a virtual session.
In the midst of a socio-economic and health crisis and after months of political blockage, Kais Saied, elected by universal suffrage at the end of 2019, invoked on July 25 an “imminent danger” to dismiss the Prime Minister, suspend the activities of Parliament, dominated by the Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, its pet peeve, and regain control of the judiciary.
He then promulgated a decree on September 22 formalizing the suspension of several chapters of the Constitution and establishing “temporary exceptional measures”, the time to carry out “political reforms”. They allow him in particular to legislate by decree, to preside over the Council of Ministers and to amend the laws.
Parliamentarians defy the ban
One hundred and twenty Tunisian deputies defied the suspension of Parliament on Wednesday by organizing a virtual session during which they voted to cancel the exceptional measures decided by the president since July 25. At the call of the Office of the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP), a body that brings together the Presidency of Parliament and representatives of the parties sitting there, 120 deputies (out of a total of 217) participated in this online plenary , chaired by Tarek Fertiti, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, an independent. The president of the ARP, Rached Ghannouchi, also leader of the Ennahdha party, did not take part in this plenary session.
One hundred and sixteen MPs voted in favor of a bill aimed at reversing the exceptional measures taken by Kais Saied, which they say are blocking the democratic process and establishing one-man rule in the country that was the cradle of the Arab Spring. The deputies, including elected members of Ennahdha and independents, also called for the organization of early legislative and presidential elections to get out of the political and socio-economic crisis.