A new boulder, which looks like a tombstone, on democracy in Tunisia. The forces of order arrested this evening Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the main opposition party, the Islamic-inspired formation Ennahda. According to local radio reports Fm mosaicGhannouchi was taken from his home, which was also raided, and taken to the El Aouina barracks in Tunis on orders from the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office. The elderly leader will then be questioned – according to the official version – on the content of a video released online while he was discussing with some members of the National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition to President Kaïs Saïed, stating that “the removal of Islam politics is a civil war project.
Who is the leader arrested
Ghannouchi, 82 years old in June, is the leader who after the Jasmine Revolution of 2011 was able to lead the party – a unique case in North Africa – to a delicate but precious synthesis between fidelity to Islamic precepts and acceptance of the rules of a modern democracy. But since the current president Saïed came to power, winning the elections by universal suffrage in October 2019, life for the parties opposed to him – starting with Ennahda – has become increasingly difficult. Since July 2021, his presidency has taken an increasingly authoritarian direction, with the ousting of the prime minister and the “suspension” of Parliament’s work, culminating in the promulgation, months later, of an ultra-centralizing constitutional reform. Now the attack on opposition parties, tolerated but in fact pushed to the margins of every political function, strikes at the heart and head of the main and most discussed one, definitively narrowing the spaces of democracy in the country from which the spark of the Arab Spring. The move ordered by the judges also comes at a very difficult time for Tunisia, grappling with a delicate negotiation with the International Monetary Fund to secure a tranche of aid essential to keep the country’s economy alive, on its last legs, from which they are fleeing dozens of citizens every day with makeshift boats.