Tunisia’s President Kais Saied’s move to dissolve parliament has been rejected by main opposition party, the Islamist Ennahda, that pledged to boycott any referendum Saied calls to restructure the political system unilaterally.
Ennahda; the largest party in Tunisia with the biggest national organisation would only take part in a referendum if Saied held national consultations on his political reforms, party leader, Rached Ghannouchi, who is also parliament speaker, said in an interview.
“We are confident the Tunisian people… will not accept individual rule and will not accept an alternative to democracy,” Ghannouchi said at Ennahda’s Tunis headquarters on Thursday.
When Saied suspended parliament, brushed aside the democratic 2014 constitution and moved to rule by decree last year, Ghannouchi accused him of conducting a coup.
TOS NEWS reported that Tunisian President Kais Saied late on Wednesday issued a decree dissolving parliament, which has been suspended since last year following mass protests.
It came as the lawmakers convened online and voted to repeal presidential decrees that gave him near total power since last year. It is their first session since he suspended the chamber in July
The president termed the parliament’s move a “coup attempt” and a conspiracy against state security and ordered investigations into them.
He said parliament had “lost its legitimacy” and had “betrayed” the nation and the MPs responsible would be prosecuted.
At least 20 parliament members who took part in the session, including from Ennahda, have been summoned for investigation by an anti-terrorism unit, Ghannouchi said.
