Tunisia in overdue constitutional crisis, not coup d’état – MENAFN.COM

Tunisia in overdue constitutional crisis, not coup d’état – MENAFN.COM

(MENAFN - Asia Times) Tunisian President Kais Saied's decision to suspend parliament and fire prime minister Hichem Mechichi set off a long-overdue and unavoidable constitutional crisis rather than a coup d'état in the first representative democracy in Africa and the Arab world. President Barack Obama meeting Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi in Oval Office on May 21, 2021 Facing mass protest and general discontent with the Tunisian government's handling of Covid-19 lockdowns and stagnant economic growth, Saied on July 25 ordered the suspension of parliament, lifting MP immunity and declaring a 30-day state of emergency based on Article 80 of the Tunisian constitution. The move by Saied was called a"coup d'état" by the founder of the country's largest political party Ennahda and Speaker of the Tunisian parliament, Rached Ghannouchi, and condemned by Tunisia's largest labor union, UGTT – two voices that are usually in fierce opposition. Saied's decree shocked all of Tunisia's main donor partners and political allies. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement beseeching the country not to give up its hard-earned democratic gains, while the National Press Club in Washington condemned Saeid for closing Al Jazeera's offices in Tunisia and the New York Times opined