Tunisian people came out in huge numbers on the streets in Tunis on Sunday to demonstrate in favor of authoritarian President Kais Saied, reported Aljazeera.
Saied supporters rallied in central Tunis to counter the protests against what the opposition and critics described as the president’s sudden power grab. There were simultaneous marches in Sfax, Sousse, and Sidi Bouzid, Gafsa, and Monastir as well.
The people waved Tunisian flags and carried placards slamming the Ennahda Party, Saied’s main opposition.
“We ask the president to dissolve parliament and hold accountable those who made the people suffer for a decade,” one of Saied’s supporters said.
Tunisia has been facing a major political crisis since July this year with concerns raised about Saied’s suspension of power and then his recent decision to govern by Presidential decree.
In July, Saied suspended the elected Tunisian parliament, dismissed the prime minister, and assumed executive authority. He claimed that the step was necessary to save the country from economic and social crises.
Last month, he brushed aside most of the provisions of the constitution to say that he could pass legislation by decree.
Saied said his aim behind the big move was to save Tunisia from “imminent peril” during an economic crisis aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president’s intervention was welcomed by a majority of the Tunisians who were frustrated by corruption and economic incompetence in a political class dominated by the Islamist Ennahda party.
Last week, Saied named university lecturer Najla Bouden as Tunisia’s first female prime minister and directed her to form a Cabinet to free Tunisia of political corruption. The Tunisian parliament’s activities, however, continue to remain ceased with the immunity of all its members still suspended.
Last week, Tunisian parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi urged lawmakers to resume work as he declared the assembly in session, defying President Saied’s order of suspension of the assembly.
