KUALA LUMPUR: Tunisia’s largest political party, the Ennahda party is extending an olive branch to President Kais Saied, urging him for a national dialogue amid the country’s political crisis and defunct democracy.
Member of of the party’s executive bureau, Dr Ahmed Gaaloul, said a dialogue with Saied and other key stakeholders is the only righteous way to return the North African nation to the path of democracy and stability.
“Our approach to the president is a peaceful one. We have been calling for dialogue, for the president for dialogue, but he refused,” he told Bernama in a interview during his visit here recently.
He said despite unsuccessful attempts, they would continue with the struggle to regain the country’s democracy.
“We don’t believe we can have a solution to the crisis we are facing now unless we have a full dialogue that is inclusive of everyone.
“We believed there is hope. Our people deserve a free and dignified future,” the former Tunisian Youth and Sports minister said.
Democracy Backsliding
Moadh Ghannouchi, son of jailed Ennadha party leader and former speaker of the Tunisian Parliament, Rached Ghannouchi, said the country has been able to remain a healthy democracy for 10 years before Saied launched a power grab in July 2021 that concentrated his power and allow him to govern by decree.
His opponents accused him of staging a coup, dismantling state institutions and bringing down the country.
The president has dissolved the Parliament, suspended the government and purged his opponents, including the senior Ghannouchi who remains the highest profile politician in Tunisia to be incarcerated.
The 82-year-old Ghannouchi, a strong critic of Saied, was imprisoned without trial since last April on charges of incitement and plotting against state security.
“Since then, there was democracy backsliding and the economy is collapsing,” Ghannouchi said.
“We are obviously opposing this as we believe our country and people deserve a democratic government with good governance and a respect of rule of law, rather than a country that is run by one man.”
He pointed out that Tunisians are facing pressing bread and butter issues, and an uncertain future.
“They feel that the current situation is unsustainable and cannot go on any longer. There must be a national dialogue to overcome these problem,” he said.
Elections Due End of 2024
Despite Ennahda party’s rise to prominence in Tunisia was gained after the Arab Spring revolution against disposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Gaaloul asserted that the party upholds the belief that the current problems and crises that the country is facing must be resolved through a democratic and peaceful way.
This, he said, must be through dialogue and election. Tunisia is set to hold a general election in the last quarter of 2024.
Gaaloul expects the elections will proceed as planned as Saied wants to seek a strong mandate to validate his rule.
“The question now is will that election be democratically fair and just?” he said.–Bernama
