TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied said on Friday after a meeting with the head of Tunisia’s powerful labor union that there would be no single way to resolve Tunisia’s political crisis.

Saied added that he refused to hold talks with those who tried to overthrow the state and “those who plundered the people’s resources.”

The leader of the Tunisian General Labor Union Noureddine Taboubi said that the union had agreed with Saied that there would be a partnership in outlining the future of Tunisia.

The talks took place as Tunisia summoned for questioning the speaker of the dissolved parliament for “conspiracy against state security” after MPs met online.

Rached Ghannouchi, who also heads the Ennahdha party, received a summons on Thursday “to question him about the holding of a plenary meeting,” party spokesman Imed Khemiri said.

Ghannouchi, 81, was accused of “having plotted against state security, which is a dangerous precedent,” said Khemiri, who was also summoned for the same reasons.

On Thursday, Ghannouchi said at least 30 parliamentarians had been summoned for questioning by anti-terrorism police.
President Kais Saied dissolved parliament on Wednesday.

It came eight months after he sacked the government, froze parliament and seized sweeping powers, later moving to rule by decree.

The president’s announcement on Wednesday evening came hours after parliamentarians held a plenary session online — their first since Saied’s power grab — and voted through a bill against his “exceptional measures.”

Ghannouchi subsequently rejected Saied’s dissolution of parliament.

Saied, a former law professor elected in 2019 amid public anger against the political class, has given himself powers to rule and legislate by decree, as well as seizing control over the judiciary.

The parliament building in Tunis has remained closed off and guarded by security forces for the past eight months.

Reuters/AFP