Tunisia’s Ennahda slams president over electoral commission

TUNIS, Tunisia

Tunisia’s Ennahda movement has rejected a presidential decree to amend the basic law of the country's election commission.

"President Kais Saied, who put the country on the path of economic and financial collapse, continues to trample on the constitution, of which Chapter 70 prohibits any change to electoral articles by decree," the movement said in a statement.

Formed in 2011, the Independent High Authority for Elections comprises nine independent members elected by the Parliament based on a two-third majority vote.

But on Friday, Saied issued a decree to appoint a new seven-member panel, including three judges and an information technology specialist.

The new decree also gives power to Saied to appoint the head of the election commission as well as to relieve any of the commission's members based on reports raised to him.

Ennahda slammed Saied’s move as a “disdain for the Tunisian people and their revolution and the further dismantling of the state, the seizure of all authorities and the sabotage of democratic gains."

It called on Tunisia’s national forces to "confront Saied's tyrannical project and take the necessary steps to save the country and return (it to) the democratic constitutional path."

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis since July 25, 2021, when Saied dismissed the government, suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority, in a move decried by opponents as a “coup.”

The North African country is also going through a severe economic crisis aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic amid the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine.

Last month, Saied dissolved the suspended parliament, shortly after lawmakers convened a plenary session to overturn his measures.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara