Tunisia president denies restricting freedoms

Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has warned of attempts by opposition parties to “distribute funds” in preparation for entering parliament “under cover of independence or under other names to deceive voters,” Al-Quds Al-Arabi has reported.

Saied made his comment during a meeting on Monday evening with Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine. He believes that individual candidates will stand as independents in the parliamentary election. The president accused parties of distributing funds to this effect, so that they can increase their chances of having like-minded MPs in parliament.

“We have seen frenzied campaigns by parties that were fighting each other in parliament, trading insults and cursing, and yet today they have alliances, proving that they belong to the same system and that their ‘rivalry’ was a façade to serve the party which pays the most,” said Saied.

READ: Tunisia opposition accuses authorities of disrupting meeting

“We reject the false allegations relating to restrictions of civil freedoms. Real restrictions would mean people being put on trial for inciting fighting and calling for changes in the ruling system. Their aims are well known; they want to circumvent the will of the people, fabricate crisis after crisis, and be affiliated with external forces. If there had been any restriction on freedoms, as they claim, they would not have met in Switzerland. The people expelled them from the Sidi Bouzid Governorate, so they moved to Geneva.”

On Sunday, the National Salvation Front, the most significant opposition bloc, organised demonstrations in the city of Regueb in the Sidi Bouzid Governorate calling for the toppling of Saied and the formation of a government capable of addressing the economic and social crises affecting Tunisia.

Tunisia’s president Kais Saied is bleeding the country – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]