11 Tunisian political parties announce boycott of December elections – Middle East Monitor

The Afek Tounes party announced on Thursday its intention to boycott early parliamentary elections on 17 December.

With this, Afeq Tounes joined Ennada, Heart of Tunisia, Dignity Coalition, Movement Party, Al Amal, Republican Party, Workers’ Party, Democratic Modernist Poles, Democratic Currents, and Democratic Forum for Labor and Freedom.

In a statement, the Afeq Tounes party called on President Kais Said to hold early presidential elections under the new constitution.

It claims that Said “lost political and legal legitimacy following the repeal of the 2014 constitution.”

After a referendum on July 25, the country’s new constitution was approved. This was part of an exception that Said had imposed a year before him on that day, causing bitter divisions among Tunisians.

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The Afeq Tounes party said, “The Tunisian people, with all their political and civic elements, called on them to resist deviations towards political authoritarianism and authoritarian rule.”

Afeq Tounes is one of the political parties that rejected the results of the referendum on the new constitution and appealed to the administrative court after the administrative court decided to vote “against” the constitution.

On September 15, Said issued a decree calling on citizens to participate in parliamentary elections in December. He also ordered the electoral law to be amended to divide the constituencies.

Exceptional measures imposed by Said included dismissing the government, dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council and parliament, issuing laws by presidential decree, and setting dates for parliamentary elections.

Tunisian political forces see these measures as “a coup against the 2014 constitution and the consolidation of an absolute dictatorship.”

Said, who began his five-year presidency in 2019, has repeatedly said his steps were “legitimate and necessary” to save Tunisia from “total collapse.”

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