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Ghannouchi: The end of Tunisia's ‘coup’ is imminent

September 8, 2022 at 11:51 am

Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda in Tunis, Tunisia [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

The head of Tunisia’s Ennahda movement, Rached Ghannouchi, said on Sunday that the end of the “coup against legitimacy” is imminent, especially after the rapprochement between all parties in the country that consider “the coup an imminent danger.”

“I commend the Tunisian General Labour Union, which refused to participate in the farce of the national dialogue,” Ghannouchi said.

On Saturday the first session of the “national dialogue” called for by President Kais Saied started in preparation for holding a referendum on a new constitution on 25 July next year in an effort to end the political crisis in the country.

Several parties have participated in the dialogue, while political and social forces such as the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), Ennahda, the Heart of Tunisia Party and the Democratic Current have refused to partake.

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Ghannouchi said “the president does not recognise the authority of the judiciary, and he considers the judges as his employees and forgot that they represent an authority and do not belong to anyone.”

“Kais Saied is putting pressure on the Minister of Justice, he urges her to expedite the consideration of the cases of the Ennahda movement, but it was not proven that Ennahda is involved in any crime, and this was the reason why the judges were unjustly dismissed,” Ghannouchi added.

In June, Saied issued a presidential order dismissing 57 judges from their duties due to accusations leveled against them including “changing the course of cases” and “disrupting investigations” related to terrorism cases and committing “financial and moral corruption”.

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

Tunisian forces consider these measures as a “coup against the constitution”, while others see them as “a correction of the course of the 2011 revolution.” Saied, who began a five-year presidential term in 2019, says he took the measures “under the provisions of the constitution to protect the state from an imminent danger.”

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