TUNIS: Four Tunisian parties said on Thursday that President Kais Saied has lost his legitimacy and called for an end to what they called a “coup,” after the president said he was taking control of legislative and executive powers.

Saied declared on Wednesday he would rule by decree and ignore parts of the constitution as he prepared to change the political system.

Attayr, Al-Jouhmouri, Akef and Ettakatol parties said in a joint statement that Saied’s move enshrined an absolute power monopoly.

Wednesday’s decrees include the continuing suspension of the parliament’s powers and the suspension of all lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution. But the text published in the official gazette went even further — now freezing lawmakers’ salaries.

They also state laws will not go through the parliament, whose powers are frozen, granting him near-unlimited power.
On July 25, Saied sacked Tunisia’s prime minister, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority, saying it was because of a national emergency.

For law professor Mouna Kraiem, the new emergency measures amount to “the establishment of a dictatorship in the full sense of the word.”

Saied has denied wanting to be a dictator, saying that he eventually aims to put his political reforms to the public in the form of a nationwide referendum. But his political critics remain skeptical of this intention. The July event came after years of economic sluggishness, but were triggered by a day of violent protest and a rise in coronavirus cases.

Constitutional expert Chafik Sarsar says that while parliament has not been definitively dissolved, Saied has implemented a “mini-constitution” that breaks with the hybrid parliamentary-presidential system established by Tunisia’s 2014 post-revolution constitution.

“This appears to be a temporary rearrangement of powers … to prepare for a transition toward a new constitutional order,” Sarsar said.
Analyst Salah Al-Din Al-Jourshi agrees that Saied is moving to transform the political order.

“He is very clear in his aims: he wants change, not just installing a presidential system but also transforming relations between the head of state and the public,” he said.

Reuters/AP/AFP