Tunisia's leader dissolves parliament after rogue session

Tunisian demonstrators march with Tunisian flags throughout a rally in opposition to Tunisian President Kais Saied on the anniversary of Tunisia's independence in Tunis, Tunisia, Sunday, March 20, 2022. (AP Photograph/Hassene Dridi)

TUNIS, TUNISIA --
Tunisia's president dissolved parliament Wednesday within the newest blow to the North African nation's younger democracy.

President Kais Saied introduced the choice in a televised deal with, after lawmakers led by the opposition Islamist occasion held a digital session in search of to annul strikes by the chief final yr to imagine sweeping powers.

Amongst these strikes, Saied suspended the actions of parliament, which has not formally convened since July. Saied argued on the time that the nation was dealing with "imminent peril" due to protests and financial disaster, and he has ruled the nation by decree ever since.

The strikes tarnished Tunisia's repute as a mannequin of democracy and pluralism within the Arab world. Tunisian protesters overthrew an autocrat in 2011 and unleashed uprisings throughout the area.

Parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi, chief of the Islamist occasion Ennahdha, convened a particular digital parliament session to vote down Saied's strikes, with 116 out of 217 suspended legislators participating. The occasion and different critics describe the president's actions final yr as an unconstitutional coup d'etat.

Saied denounced the parliament session as "unlawful and illegitimate" and accused the lawmakers who took a part of participating in a "plot" in opposition to Tunisian safety geared toward seeding societal division. He warned in opposition to political violence, threatened organizers with prosecution and introduced he was dissolving parliament altogether.

"In these grave, delicate moments, obligation and accountability require us to guard the nation from breaking up," he mentioned.

Saied has promised a referendum on deliberate political reforms for July 25 -- the anniversary of the day he assumed huge powers -- and new legislative elections on Dec. 17.