Tunisian President Kais Saied dissolved parliament on Wednesday, the work of which had already been suspended until a date to be determined last summer. Saied announced the decision in response to the plenary session in which parliamentarians voted in favor of legislation against the “exceptional measures” introduced by the President last September, which had allowed Saied to rule by decree and accepted the limits imposed by the current constitution to ignore. The dissolution of parliament is exacerbating the longstanding major crisis in Tunisia, which has been aggravated in recent years by severe political instability, a severe economic crisis and the corona pandemic, but above all by the authoritarianism of the president himself.
Saied, who was elected in 2019 and has gradually dismantled the country’s democratic institutions in recent months, accused MPs attending the plenary session of a “coup attempt” against him and “treason against the nation”. Meanwhile, Attorney General Leila Jeffal has announced an investigation into her, accusing her of interfering with the country’s security.
Last July, Saied ousted the prime minister, the third in a year, and suspended the work of parliament, a move his opponents had dubbed a “coup.” About a month later, in August, he extended Parliament’s suspension of work “until further notice,” and in September he signed a provision allowing him to govern by decree without having to go through Parliament. Finally, in December, he announced a referendum to vote on a new constitution to replace the one that came into force in 2014 after the Arab Spring, and new elections to renew the parliament (the referendum was scheduled for July 2022, the elections). for December).
In early February, Saied also decided to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council, the body created in 2016 to ensure the independence of the judiciary in Tunisia. The decision was greeted by a large protest in Tunis attended by thousands of people.
Also read: Where does the crisis in Tunisia come from?