In its first session since 2021, new Tunisian parliament sworn in
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Tunisia's new parliament, elected in December and January with an 11 percent turnout, convened for the first time on Monday.
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Tunisian police block the entrance to parliament as the new assembly holds its first session in Tunis. (AFP)
Tunisia on Monday inaugurated a new parliament, after a vote that saw a paltry turnout amid boycotts following President Kais Saied's July 2021 radical changes.
Tunisia's freshly elected parliament convened for the first time on Monday, more than a year after President Kais Saied dissolved the previously elected parliament in July 2021.
The Assembly of the People's Representatives met at the city of Bardo, near Tunis' capital. The agenda for the session included voting for a new speaker and deputies. According to local media, economic issues will also be tackled.
Last year, Saied replaced the 2014 constitution with one he wrote himself and passed in a referendum with a 30.5% turnout of those with the right to vote.
Since 2021, he has implemented a string of controversial political reforms, in a bid to strengthen the presidency, including the move to rule by decree and suspending the Parliament.
In Tunisia's former constitution, the previous legislature had broad powers under the mixed presidential-parliamentary system, allowing individuals to run as candidates of political parties.
But the new constitution prevents individuals from doing so and undermining the visibility of political parties - including the opposition.
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The President justified his decision that the Tunisian country was still in the grip of a self-serving political elite, aiming to further weaken the country despite it already being in a financial crisis.
The uprisings failed to deliver the promise of genuine and authentic democracy to the Tunisian people because the West had considerable influence in the post-revolutionary transition phase of the country.
In February, authorities detained several opposition figures of Saied's government, including Ennahda members whom the President labeled as criminals, traitors, and terrorists.
Around 6,000 Tunisians have joined groups in Syria and Iraq, after which a parliamentary panel was created in 2017 to investigate the organizations accountable for recruiting the members. Leftist groups pointed fingers at the Ennahda party and Larayedh for committing the crime.
However, Ennahda rejected all claims and labeled the ruling as an effort to conceal “the catastrophic loss of the election” and as a political attack on Saied’s opponents.
Another crucial factor, which has led to the demise of municipal councils, is that the lack of funds made it nearly impossible to effect any concrete political impact.
Most political parties announced a nationwide boycott of parliamentary elections in December and January to protest President Saied's electoral reform.
Tunisia has been experiencing an acute political crisis since July 25, 2021, when Saied began imposing a series of "exceptional measures", including dismissing the government, dissolving the Judicial Council, freezing the work of parliament, issuing legislations by presidential decrees, and adopting a new constitution through a referendum on July 25.
