Tunisia: Ghannouchi will step down if it will solve political crisis

Speaker of the suspended Tunisian Parliament, Rached Ghannouchi, yesterday said that he would resign if that would solve the political crisis in Tunisia.

“If my resignation is a solution, I will not hesitate to announce it,” Ghannouchi told the local daily Al-Sabah.

“We are faced with two options; either to have the president retract his decisions or the crisis will continue,” Ghannouchi said, adding that the proposed solution to resolve the crisis is “to have the president abide by the constitution and its mechanisms.”

On 25 July, Tunisian President Kais Saied cited Article 80 of the constitution to dismiss Prime Minister Hicham Mechichi, freeze the work of parliament for 30 days, lift the immunity of ministers, and appoint himself as head of the executive authority until the formation of a new government.

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This comes after violent protests broke out in several Tunisian cities criticising the government’s handling of the economy and the coronavirus. Demonstrators had called for parliament to be dissolved.

He appointed a prime minister on 29 September and a government has since been formed.

The majority of the country’s political parties slammed the move as a “coup against the constitution” and the achievements of the 2011 revolution.

Is Tunsia’s President Kais Saied ruining democracy?- Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]