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Tunisia: National Salvation Front seeks to form national salvation government

June 7, 2022 at 12:00 pm

Tunisian opposition leader Ahmed Najib Chebbi in Tunis, Tunisia. [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

Head of the Tunisian National Salvation Front Ahmed Nejib Chebbi announced on Sunday that the front supports the formation of a “national salvation government”, pointing out that its establishment has begun to take shape.

This came in a popular meeting organised by the National Salvation Front in the city of Gafsa, which was attended by hundreds of opponents of President Kais Saied’s policies.

Chebbi added that his front’s: “Motive aims to form a national salvation government to save Tunisia from its double social and political crisis.”

On 31 May, Chebbi announced forming a front called National Salvation, to which five parties joined, including the Ennahda Movement, Heart of Tunisia, Dignity Coalition, the Movement Party and Al-Amal, in addition to the Citizens Against the Coup Initiative and several MPs.

“We do not call for strife; the salvation government that we call for is not a government that we form in the Salvation Front, but rather a government that emanates from the inclusive, comprehensive, and successful national dialogue,” Chebbi expressed.

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In his response to the news of forming a national salvation government by the National Salvation Front, Chebbi stated: “We are not jumping in the air; we demand a government of salvation now and here because Tunisia cannot last without this government.”

Chebbi pointed out: “The intensification of the crisis will push all free people to take a united step against the coup. There is no place for the third position in Tunisia; there are two positions only: the coup and the countering the coup position.”

Chebbi continued: “What happened in the judges’ meeting (announcing a week-long strike in protest of Saied’s dismissal of 57 judges), the protest in front of the Independent High Authority for Elections, the union’s preparation to defend the measure and the meetings of the National Salvation Front all fall within the context to provide these conditions to declare a national salvation government and to overthrow the coup.”

Since 25 July, 2021, Tunisia has witnessed a severe political crisis when Saied imposed exceptional measures, including dismissing the government, dissolving parliament and the Supreme Judicial Council and issuing legislation by presidential decrees.

Tunisian forces consider these measures a “coup against the constitution,” while other forces see them as a “correction of the course of the 2011 revolution.” Saied considers his measures as: “Measures according to the provisions of the Constitution to protect the state from an imminent danger.”