Tunisia president takes new powers, says he will reform system

TUNIS, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Tunisia’s president said on Wednesday he will only observe parts of the constitution that do not contradict new legislative and executive powers that he said he had assumed, prompting immediate opposition from political rivals.

Kais Saied has held nearly total power since July 25 when he sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority, citing a national emergency in a move his foes called a coup. read more

As the weeks have passed, he has come under growing pressure from key Tunisian political players and Western donors to name a prime minister and explain how he intends to move past the crisis.

The presidency said Saied had put in place new legislative and executive measures, without spelling out what these were, and said he would form a committee to amend the political system. Other parts of the constitution would stay in force, it said.

It said parliament’s activities would remain frozen with members’ right of immunity from prosecution still lifted.

The leader of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the biggest in the deeply fragmented parliament and a member of successive governing coalitions, immediately rejected Saied’s announcements on Wednesday.

Rached Ghannouchi told Reuters the announcement meant cancelling the constitution and that Ennahda, which had already declared Saied’s July 25 intervention a coup, would not accept that.

This month a Saied adviser told Reuters he was planning to suspend the constitution and offer a new version via a public referendum, prompting a backlash from the powerful labour union and political parties.

Saied has denied having dictatorial aspirations, insists his moves are constitutional and has vowed to uphold the rights of Tunisians.

His broadly popular intervention came after years of economic stagnation and political paralysis, aggravated by a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases and a day of violent protests.

Reporting by Tarek Amara
Writing by Angus McDowall
Editing by Gareth Jones, Peter Graff and Steve Orlofsky

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