New clashes on the streets of Tunisia, the capital of Tunisia, erupted this Monday outside parliament between supporters of the Ennahdha movement and President Kais Syed following the suspension of the legislature and the resignation of the prime minister. The economic crisis and serious problems of combating the pandemic have exacerbated in the country where the so-called “Arab Spring” began more than ten years ago.
Tensions escalated when soldiers blocked the Tunisian parliament building this morning and clashes broke out in the street between the two sides. But Parliament Speaker Rashed Gannouchi said the assembly is still functioning. “The suspension of parliament is unconstitutional, illegal and unreasonable,” he said in a statement posted on Facebook. “Parliament is still standing and will carry out its tasks.”
This Sunday, Syed dismissed the government of Prime Minister Heechem Mecici, suspended parliament and took over executive power with the help of a new prime minister, and supported a constitutional clause that allows the president to take exceptional action if he sees serious threats to government. country.
But the article makes the adoption of these exceptional measures dependent on consultation with the head of government and the speaker of parliament, and Gannouchi said he was not consulted. “We assure the Tunisian people and Tunisian friends around the world that their free voice will never disappear,” Gannouchi said.
Tunisia has been in a deep crisis since last January, when Mecici announced a cabinet reshuffle, but Syed refused to swear in new ministers.
Tunisia is considered the only Arab country to have achieved a peaceful transition to democracy among Muslim countries that survived popular revolutions and toppled regimes, including Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Apart from the start of the Arab Spring, Tunisia was the only country to end it.
The Ennahdha Movement, a party that originated in 1981 as the Islamic Trends Movement and was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, was severely persecuted by the Tunisian regime prior to the so-called Jasmine Revolution. Only then was he legalized and won the country’s first democratic elections in 2011, forming a government of two secular parties.
Initially close to radical Islamism, the party has significantly softened its program, becoming a democratic and conservative Islamic entity that defends a market economy, economic liberalism and good relations with the Western world.
But it turned out that she was responsible for the unrest that took place in a traditionally secular country due to the Islamization of the government, which led to the political crisis of 2013-2014. The party left the government following the entry into force of the new constitution in January 2014. Rached Gannushi is part of the movement.
