Tunisia

by Motasem A Dalloul

Tunisia's President Kais Saied announced the dissolution of his country's parliament last week, eight months after freezing the institution, when he "stabbed the Jasmine Revolution in its back" and grabbed the power of most state institutions.

02 April 2022; MEMO: Speaker of the dissolved Tunisian Parliament Rached Ghannouchi confirmed on Friday that the people of his country are "well and resist autocracy", describing President Kais Saied's decision to dissolve Parliament as "serious and void".

This came in a statement to press correspondents after the Anti-Terrorism Unit investigated him in Tunis.

02 April 2022; MEMO: Leader of the Ennahda Movement Noureddine Bhiri on Friday accused Tunisian President Kais Saied and Minister of Interior Taoufik Charfeddine of "attempting to assassinate" him.

On 31 December, 2021, the Tunisian authorities placed Bhiri under house arrest on suspicion of his "involvement in a serious threat to public security" before releasing him on 8 March.

01 April 2022; MEMO: The former Tunisian President, Moncef Marzouki, called on the Parliament to ignore the decision of its dissolution by President Kais Saied, "because the person who announced its dissolution represents himself only, since he does not have any legitimacy since his coup against the Constitution."

Marzouki considered that the Parliament has to "continue its work and seek to attain the quorum to remove a person who has proven that he is fit for everything except to be the Head of a State like Tunisia."

31 March 2022; MEMO: The Tunisian Parliament voted unanimously to abolish all the exceptional measures announced by President Kais Saied on 25 July.

The bill relating to abolishing the exceptional measures won the votes of 116 deputies out of 217, without objection or the rejection by any Member of Parliament.

On Wednesday, a virtual plenary session was commenced in the Tunisian Parliament, in an unprecedented step since Saied has announced his exceptional measures on 25 July.

31 March 2022; MEMO: Tunisian Parliament Speaker and Ennahda Party leader, Rached Ghannouchi, said Thursday, that the anti-terrorism unit has summoned more than 30 lawmakers who had participated in an online session in defiance of President Kais Saied.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera news channel, Ghannouchi described the summons as a "dangerous issue".

Earlier on Wednesday, the Tunisian Parliament held an online session; the first since Saied announced last year that he was suspending the chamber, Reuters reported.

31 March 2022; MEMO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday that Tunisia must take a series of measures to reduce the budget deficit and revive the economy, Anadolu has reported, including strict control over the public sector wage bill and better targeted subsidies. An IMF team visited Tunisia last week for talks on the economic reform programme.

29 March 2022; MEMO: The Tunisian Human Rights League condemned, on Monday, the holding of military trials for civilians and called for the acceleration of revising relevant laws, Anadolu news agency reported.

The League said, in a statement, following the convening of its National Council on 26 and 27 March, that it is committed to "defending all civil, political, economic and social rights", based on the national and international references related to all indivisible human rights.

29 March 2022; MEMO: Tunisia's suspended parliament said it will convene on Wednesday to "abolish" exceptional measures taken by the country's President, Kais Saied, Anadolu News Agency reports.

In a statement on Monday, the assembly said it will hold another session on Saturday to discuss the financial, economic and social conditions in the North African nation.

29 March 2022; MEMO: The leader of Citizens against the Coup, Habib Bouajila, announced on Sunday that the Tunisian authorities have intervened to prevent the movement from holding a meeting in Hammamet in the north east of the country.