Today, after the decisions announced by the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, based on Article 80 of the Constitution, the Ennahda movement is in a critical situation, if not isolated, especially after the decision to freeze the work and functions of the Parliament for a period of 30 days and to lift the parliamentary immunity of all members of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People.
The people, who revolted 10 years ago against the former regime and burned the headquarters of the ruling party at the time, today revolted against the Ennahda movement and burned its headquarters on July 25 and broke its banners. The movement is looking for a way out with the slightest damage so as not to lose more of its popularity, which it seems to have lost, and what further complicates the matter is the division of positions among its leaders.
The Executive Office of the Ennahda Movement believes that the country needs to conduct a national dialogue and draw collective options capable of getting the country out of all its crises, and considered that the exceptional measures announced by the President of the Republic are unconstitutional and represent a coup against the constitution and institutions, especially those related to the freezing of parliamentary activity and the monopoly of all powers without a constitutional oversight body, which was unanimously agreed upon by all parties, organizations and specialists.
Therefore, the executive office called on the head of state to retract his decisions and to address the challenges and difficulties that the country is experiencing within the constitutional and legal framework that is in line with the democratic option accepted by the Tunisian people, with the need to resume the work of the Assembly of People’s Representatives as the original democratically elected authority.
Ennahda had only very limited options left. It is well aware that its confrontation with the decisions of Kais Saied and the Tunisian street is not guaranteed. Therefore, it calls once again for a national dialogue and for intensifying consultations about what the country has recently experienced in order to preserve democratic gains and to return as soon as possible to the constitutional conditions and the normal and legal functioning of the state’s institutions and wheels, according to a statement issued by its executive office, which warned in the same statement of the danger of the rhetoric of violence and denial and exclusion on the national social fabric.
Division within the Movement
The decision to activate Chapter 80 caused an earthquake within the Ennahda movement and led to a split within it. Attitudes between its leaders differed between supporting and rejecting the decisions of the President of the State and considering them as a coup against legitimacy and the constitution.
Among the leading supporters is Samir Dilo, who confirmed that the president’s speech was reassuring and that the Ennahda movement today is required to deal positively with the situation and events in a way that contributes to stabilizing the situation and cutting the road to everything that would pose a danger to Tunisians and push them to go on the street.
In a statement to Diwan FM, Dilo said that the situation must be reformed, considering that going to the street is the most dangerous thing for Tunisians, according to his estimation. He continued, “I did not go to the parliament because I know that it is closed and because it is not the role of parliamentarians to break into the parliament, and I was keen to contribute to the prevention of excesses, and I asked the attendees to withdraw because political issues are resolved through dialogue and because bullying in the street leads to violence.”
On the other hand, the movement’s leader, Noureddine Bhiri, stressed that what Saied had done was a coup in the fullest sense of the word and an abolition of the republican system based on the separation of powers. He published on his official Facebook page – under the title “I swear that it is a coup” – that “those who reject the return of autocratic state and the monarchy have no choice but to continue the peaceful struggle, individuals and groups, to overthrow and thwart the coup. We must not be deceived by the promises of the putschists and their supporters because history has taught us that they have no promise or covenant, and that whoever is tempted to overturn the constitution and the values of the republic, at a difficult time in which his country is going through, cannot be an advocate of goodness, nor can he be a herald of democracy, freedom, development, or economic or social advancement… and saying otherwise, or looking for justifications are a falsification of facts and an embellishment of a crime against the people, the state and the revolution.”
Need for Revision
Most of Ennahda’s leaders believe that the movement needs a moment of reflection and a real and serious review to continue its political path, and what is required of it today is not escalation and confrontation because the result is not guaranteed. During the period of the exceptional measures announced by Saied, which is set at 30 days, the movement is in anticipation, if not in fear, of the decisions and decrees that the head of state may issue in the coming hours, especially since the supporters of the president are expanding nationally and internationally while the noose is tightening against them.
