Tunisian Speaker Ghannouchi Forms National Front to Annul President's Decisions - Tasnim News Agency

(Tasnim) – Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament Rached Ghannouchi announced that his Ennahda party is seeking to form a national front to counter the decisions recently taken by President Kais Saied.

Ghannouchi was quoted by AP as saying in an interview yesterday that his party is working to form a national front to confront Saied's decision to suspend parliament, sack Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and other prominent government officials, and control the fragile democratic track amid the ongoing crisis in the country.

Ghannouchi told AP during a video call that the aim of this step is to exert pressure on the president to demand "a return to the democratic system."

The Ennahda leader previously affirmed that Saied's actions amounted to a coup, adding that he and some of the dismissed officials had called on the president to withdraw his statement and maintain the country's constitutional democratic system.

On Sunday evening, Tunisian President Kais Saied used Article 80 of the constitution to dismiss PM Mechichi, freeze the work of parliament for 30 days, lift the immunity of ministers, and appoint himself as head of the executive authority until the formation of a new government.

This comes after violent protests broke out in several Tunisian cities criticizing the government's handling of the economy and the coronavirus. Demonstrators had called for parliament to be dissolved.