Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday announced he has decided to dissolve the country’s elected municipal councils, months before they were due to be elected, reported The Print.
“We will discuss a decree to dissolve municipalities and replace them with special councils,” Kais said in a video of a cabinet meeting that was posted online.
He said the new councils will also be elected, but under new rules that he will write. He has previously called the existing councils “states within a state” and said they were “not neutral”.
In the 2018 local elections, a third of municipal councils came under the control of the Ennahda party, which has been one of the biggest critics of Saied. The mandate of around 350 mayors and municipal councilors was to expire in late April.
Notably, Saied has concentrated nearly all powers in the presidency since he suddenly shut down the elected Tunisian parliament in July 2021 and moved to rule by decree, moves that opposition and critics have described as an undemocratic coup.
The president has rejected the accusations, saying that his moves were legal and necessary to save Tunisia from years of chaos at the hands of the corrupt, self-serving political elite. He also brought forward a new constitution that he passed last year in a referendum with an extremely low turnout.
In recent weeks, Saied escalated its crackdown against several political figures. Some prominent critics of President Saied, including some of the leaders of the National Salvation Front, a coalition organization that united political parties and protest groups, activists, businessmen, and the head of an independent radio station have been arrested by the Tunisian authorities.
Rights group Amnesty International has labeled the arrests as a politically motivated witch hunt.
In related news, Tunisia’s new parliament, which was elected in December and January in a vote with a mere turnout of only 11%, is scheduled to sit for the first time on Monday.
