Tunisian president Kais Saied dissolved parliament eight months after suspending it. Today, more than 100 members of the suspended parliament challenged Saied by calling an online meeting in which they voted to reverse his coup last July, when the president fired the government and assumed full powers.
Saied communicated his decision during a meeting of the “National Security Council” chaired by him. “I announce 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,” Saied said in a video released by the presidency.
After months of political stalemate, Saied, elected at the end of 2019, assumed full powers on 25 July, dismissing the prime minister and suspending the parliament dominated by the Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, his nemesis. On 22 September, the Head of State formalized his full powers through “exceptional measures” which extend the suspension of Parliament, allow him to legislate by decree and to preside over the Council of Ministers and to amend laws.
Over half of the Tunisian deputies challenged the suspension of the Parliament by organizing a virtual session during which they voted to cancel the exceptional measures of 25 July.
At the invitation of the Office of the Assembly of People’s Representatives, a body that brings together the Presidency of the Parliament and the representatives of the parties, 120 deputies (out of a total of 217) attended this online plenary, chaired by Tarek Fertiti, Vice-President of the Parliament, independent. Assembly chairman Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahdha party, did not take part in this plenary session. One hundred and sixteen parliamentarians voted in favor of a bill aimed at repealing the exceptional measures taken by Saied, accused of blocking the democratic process and establishing a one-man rule in the country that was the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
The deputies, including the elected members of Ennahdha and the independents, also called for the organization of early legislative and presidential elections to get out of the political and socio-economic crisis.