Tunisian Workers' Party starts talks to counter president's measures

TUNIS, Tunisia

Tunisia's Workers' Party said Friday that it initiated consultations with other parties and movements to form a front that will counter President Kais Saied's attempt to establish an “authoritarian rule.”

"The Workers' Party has begun consultations and communications with national parties and forces to form a broad opposition to Saied's measures," Hamma Hammami, the party's secretary-general, said during a news conference.

The leader of the leftist party said the opposition front will adhere to the principles of revolution and reject "any form of tyranny and consolidation of powers which will establish an authoritarian, absolute, individual rule."

The party has so far made consultations with the Democratic Current party, the Qutb Party, and the Republican Party, according to Hammami. It has also contacted a number of national, young, and civil forces.

Hammami's remarks came after Saied's decisions on Wednesday to abolish the body established in 2014 to monitor the constitutionality of laws and to assume the task of preparing amendments related to political reforms through a commission constituted by him.

Saied will also continue with the implementation of the president's "exceptional measures."

What happened on Wednesday was "a continuation of the coup process and a major step towards tyranny and dictatorship," Hammami said.

"(It) was a coup and not just an activation of Article 80 of the Tunisian Constitution. Saied took the chapter out of its context to seize power which is all (legislative, executive, and judicial) in his hands," Hammami said, while comparing the Tunisian president with the likes of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

On July 25, Saied ousted the government, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority. While he insists that his "exceptional measures" are meant to "save" the country, his critics accuse him of orchestrating a coup.

Tunisia has been seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition among Arab countries which witnessed popular revolutions toppling ruling regimes, including Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara